George Williams thought the Great Britain Lions tour had slipped him by, but the Canberra Raiders recruit looks set to finally getting his chance.
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While Williams wasn't named in the 17, he gave an indication he would be called into the Lions team to face Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby on Saturday.
Until now Lions coach Wayne Bennett has opted for Gareth Widdop and Jackson Hastings in the halves in their three losses to New Zealand and Tonga.
It would mean Williams, who has played 10 Tests for England, would make his Great Britain debut.
He said it would be a proud moment for his family to be part of the first Lions tour since 2007.
"[It's] massive. It's been a long old tour," Williams said.
"As professionals you want to play every game, but that's not meant to be for me this tour.
"I've got my chance now and hopefully I can take it.
"It will be a proud day for me and my family. Great Britain's not been around for a long time and it's something I've wanted to do.
"I was hoping it wouldn't slip out of my grasp this tour and I've got the chance to do that."
The trip to PNG has also given him a taste of what Canberra will be like when arrives for Raiders pre-season in January.
His Lions teammates Elliott "Smell" Whitehead and John "Batty" Bateman have already worded him up about how hot Canberra gets in summer.
From the sounds of it, he might need to get sunscreen advice from Bateman, who got badly burnt during pre-season when he first arrived in the capital.
Williams enjoyed his first training session, although he did catch some sun in the PNG heat.
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"It was good. A little bit warm, I'm probably a bit red, it was a tough old session," he said.
"But I enjoyed it and it's good to be out there with the boys training. Hopefully I get a crack this weekend.
"Some of the Canberra boys - Batty and Smell, said you better get used to this because that's what it's like in Canberra.
"Hopefully this is a bit of a warm-up for me, but yeah it is pretty tough."
Like Whitehead, Williams was blown away by the support of the PNG locals - the crowd meeting them at the Port Moresby airport and fans calling out the Lions' names.
He was hoping that would translate into a big crowd come Sunday.
But they'll look to send the Kumuls home losers as they go in search of their first win of the tour.
"I watched that [PNG] game against Fiji before our boys played," Williams said.
"They like to throw the ball around and offload.
"They've got some really good players who play in the NRL and Super League so we're under no illusions it's going to be tough, but I think we're ready."