A leader is everything Josh Papalii says he is not.
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But ask his Canberra Raiders teammates - and his Queensland Maroons comrades come Wednesday night - and they will tell you a leader is everything Papalii is.
Why else would he have dragged the likes of Joey Leilua, Sia Soliola, Ata Hingano and Siliva Havili off the couch in the comforts of the off-season and onto a field so they could shed kilograms and meet their pre-season weight targets?
He isn't one to say too much - whatever he does say is likely in jest. But his actions? They are driving the Raiders up the NRL ladder, and they are inspiring Queensland's bid to regain the shield.
"Papa is someone people just follow naturally. He doesn't demand a lot but when he asks for things, people just follow him," Soliola said.
"He is very attractive in terms of his character and his attitude. Everyone wants to be around him. Automatically he just influences those around him because he can touch multiple groups.
"He talks to a lot of the players, young or old. He is a great bridge for the staff to the players to get a good gauge and understanding on how people are feeling and what they need."
Papalii will shoulder a huge responsibility as Queensland's second most-capped player heading into game one, where he will lock horns with fellow Raiders and Jack Wighton and Nick Cotric.
A pair of Blues debutants and Maroons enforcer Papalii will join forces to become the first Raiders trio to play an interstate showdown since 2010. Before that? Laurie Daley, Ben Kennedy and David Furner in 1999.
His status as a State of Origin incumbent left Raiders fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad unsure of how to approach Papalii when he touched down in Canberra.
The youngster wanted to make a good impression on someone that "has pretty much done everything in our game". He needn't have worried.
"He is just a genuine bloke. Regardless of what's happening, he is always the first person you can turn to," Nicoll-Klokstad said.
Emerging hooker Tom Starling felt that trepidation. But "the first time I met him, it was like I had known him forever".
The first time 20-year-old Seb Kris crossed paths with the international star he just about had to pick his jaw up off the floor. But he quickly came to know Papalii as "a leader without the badge".
Raiders halfback Sam Williams has seen it for years, those "times in games where the team is on the backfoot and he will come out and make a big run or put on a big shot".
"All the boys love Papa so much, they just lift on the back of that," Williams said.
But his favourite trait? Williams can't go past Papalii's quick-witted one-liners.
John Bateman loves them too, adding they sum up the man he was so desperate to play alongside in Canberra. But still, there is one thing Papalii just doesn't seem to get.
"He tends to turn up in a Man United shirt and Liverpool shorts, which as an Englishman, I was giving him some stick about," Bateman said.
"You get beat up for that [back in England], but he tends to think he can get away with it. I'm not quite sure he has come to grips with football at home yet."