He won this year's Wally Lewis Medal after his State of Origin heroics and has established himself on the Kangaroos' wing in the absence of Darius Boyd, but the best is yet to come for South Sydney-bound Dane Gagai.
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Awaiting him in the NRL at the conclusion of this year's World Cup is a four-year commitment at the Rabbitohs, standing in the same backline as one of the modern day greats – Greg Inglis.
It's a mouth-watering prospect for new Souths coach Anthony Seibold, who knows both players well from his time as a Queensland assistant coach.
The pair are set to strike up a dangerous combination next season – with fit-again Inglis at fullback and Dane Gagai probing away out wide in the centres.
"Now I get to go to a club where I get to play with Greg Inglis week in, week out, it's going to be a bit more fun playing alongside him than trying to tackle him," Gagai said ahead of Friday's World Cup semi-final against Fiji.
"He's one of those athletes, he's competitive, aggressive. He had this year off and I'm sure he's going to do everything to get back out on that field and try and bring success back to the club.
"I'm just looking forward to going back there and playing alongside him."
Gagai has long idolised Inglis, and was only 15 when the Souths skipper made his Queensland Origin debut.
It took almost a decade before the pair finally played alongside one another – game three of the 2015 State of Origin series where Gagai scored a debut try as Queensland crushed NSW in the decider.
They featured in three more Origins together last year before Inglis suffered a season-ending, round-one knee injury in March and his 2017 evaporated prematurely.
The chance to play alongside Inglis more regularly was one of the biggest selling points in Gagai's move from Newcastle to Redfern.
"It definitely is one of them when you get to play alongside someone you watched when you were at home with all the family watching Origin, and now I get to play alongside someone with that type of skill set," Gagai said.
"The best thing about Greg, with everything he's done, he's just so humble and down-to-earth. I looked at this guy and went 'oh my God this is Greg Inglis, he's a freak', but getting to know him, within two seconds it feels like you are mates and you've known each other for a while.
"He just makes you feel comfortable around him and I guess he's one of those players that you can be around. He's just a top bloke, so I'm really looking forward to playing alongside him again.
"They've got a lock there in [Cameron] Murray, and they've got Angus Crichton and he had an outstanding season. Even the young outside backs, there are just a lot of things that I like about it."
Gagai won't return to pre-season training until the new year.
Barring a few weeks off in September after Newcastle failed to qualify for the NRL finals, Gagai hasn't had a break since the end of season 2016.
"I've been doing this for six years, seven years now and I look at the boys that are 34, Billy Slater, and he still hasn't skipped a beat, he looks like he's running around at 21 so I can't really complain," Gagai said.
"It is physically demanding and that's where the mental aspect comes in. You've got to stay driven in what you're doing, but it's not hard to motivate yourself when you're playing alongside these blokes because the last thing you want to do is let your teammates down and let your country down.
"It's not hard to stay motivated but definitely looking forward to a break after this."
