Canberra Raiders young guns Jarrod Croker and Josh Dugan could both be excused for having nightmares after their only previous experience playing the Newcastle Knights in round 18.
But both insist they are excited, not intimidated, by the prospect of playing against the Knights at Canberra Stadium on Monday.
The teenagers' emergence has been the undoubted highlight of the Raiders' 2009 campaign but neither had much to smile about after a 19-point loss to the Knights last month.
The Newcastle defence bashed Dugan all night before he succumbed to a knee injury.
Veteran Knights centre Adam MacDougall took Croker to school with a vintage performance against his inexperienced rival.
Croker, 18, said he wanted to even up the score with his 34-year-old rival.
''He's a world class player [and] he doesn't look very strong, but he is fairly strong and he sort of went over me a few times,'' Croker said.
''I don't know whether he scored a try, but he set one up and he shrugged a few of our players.
''I think he's definitely one-nil up on me ... so I'll be trying to get to one-all by the end of the season.''
While Croker lost that battle, he's won plenty of others in an outstanding debut season that has included a team-high 12 tries in 19 appearances.
He scored two tries and was a standout player during the Raiders' loss to the Warriors last week, but said winning, not scoring tries, was his sole motivation.
''I'd definitely prefer a win,'' he said. ''The tries I scored I didn't have to do much, they were pretty easy.''
Dugan has been another revelation, going from relative unknown at the start of the season to one of the Raiders' most targeted players.
The Knights were particularly eager to shut the 19-year-old down in round 18.
Dugan was belted almost every time he got the ball, as the Knights threw numbers into tackles and tried to smash him out of the game.
It eventually worked when he hyper-extended his knee late in the contest, but not before the youngster had made his mark with some brilliant kick-return metres.
Dugan said he was smarter since that game and hoped that would ensure he came away from Monday night's match with fewer bruises.
''Last time they targeted me a bit and I ended up copping a bruising and didn't end up finishing the game,'' Dugan said.
''But hopefully I can steer clear of that and pull up sweet.
''That and the week after against the Tigers, they probably targeted me the most.
''They sort of saw me as a danger and smashed me.''
Dugan has been working with Raiders assistant coach Ian Millward on ways to take the heat off himself at the back.
They include working better with his wingers.
He said he was getting used to being targeted.
''I expect it every week,'' he said. ''It used to [bother me]. I was a bit star struck when I first came into the grade, but now I've built a name for myself and I've got good players around me and that's helped a lot.
''It's really important to set up my career for next year and hopefully I can finish the last two games strongly and start pre-season well and start in that No1 jersey next year.''
MONDAY
Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights at Canberra Stadium, 7pm. TV time: Live on Fox Sports 2. Tickets available through Ticketek.
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