And the Wests Tigers forward has kept his dad in the forefront of his mind all week - during training with his international teammates, Friday's jersey presentation and while practicing the Siva Tau, Samoa's war dance.

Sefilino won't get the chance to watch his son run out for Samoa at Campbelltown - he passed away nine years ago when Aloiai was barely a teenager, long before he made his NRL debut in round one of 2016.

But Aloiai is determined to do his father proud, especially after an untimely shoulder injury cruelled an opportunity to represent Samoa in his rookie season.

"When I told my Mum she got pretty emotional, just telling me how proud my father would have been," Aloiai said.

"My aunties and uncles, my dad's brothers and sisters have all messaged me along with my first cousins just saying how proud it is for the Samoan side [of the family].

"When we're doing our Siva Tau practice, times like that really hit home for me. It's a huge time for our family."

Aloiai's father played a significant role in setting him on the path to being a professional sportsman.

Sefilino was a national jiu-jitsu champion in New Zealand and introduced Aloiai and his brothers to the world of combat sports from a young age.

He boxed with his siblings growing up and has maintained a love for the sport to this day, so much so that the Tigers even allowed him to make his boxing debut during the NRL off season. Aloiai won.

When was first introduced to rugby league by his uncle, the transition was easy given his natural athletic talent, and the skills he had already nurtured in the ring.

He left home as a teenager and played in the National Youth Cup for Parramatta in 2014 and 2015 but was not offered a further contract after dislocating his hip and fracturing the joint's posterior wall.

The Tigers were being coached by Jason Taylor at the time and he offered Aloiai a one-year deal, confident the Auckland native had something to offer in the NRL.

Aloiai played every match in his debut season, but a dislocated kneecap reduced him to 15 appearances in 2017.

His 11 games this year has rocketed his NRL tally to 50 in just two and a half seasons, but none have been more poignant than what Saturday's Pacific Test promises to be.

"I have a lot of hope. I always return back to my faith and I think it carries me through a lot of the hard things," Aloiai said.

"I really found my refuge in God during that time [after his father's death]. It went from being a religious thing every Sunday to finding the true reality of God, a living God that loves us and cares about us and ultimately is more important than anything else we do here.

"I've definitely dug a lot deeper into my faith during the harder times. I just found that God is always there for me, he's consistent, he's the same every day. Even when we're not consistent, he is, he's the same, he doesn't change.

"There's always stability in him even though in the rugby league world there's not a lot of stability, it's a bit of a whirlwind, tornado sometimes. To have the stability in God is the most important thing."

And while most of Aloiai's family will be watching from abroad on Saturday, his auntie and uncle who he lived with when he first moved to Sydney will definitely make the trip to Campbelltown.

"My auntie on my Samoan side is actually married to a Tongan man who's my uncle. They're pretty much my Australian parents," Aloiai said.

"Now he's got a split allegiance. He wants to go for Tonga but his nephew's playing for Samoa, so he might be wearing a Samoan jersey and a Tongan jacket."