Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart jokes his players wished there was a debutant every week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Then every week they'd get a team lunch to celebrate occasions like Caleb Aekins making his Raiders debut against the Parramatta Eels at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.
Aekins received his jersey from Canberra premiership winger Ken Nagas on Friday.
He's come in for New Zealand international Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (neck), who's seeking some different opinions about what's the best treatment over the next week.
Stuart said Aekins might take a little time to find his feet and build his combinations, although he did spend the pre-season training with halves George Williams and Jack Wighton.
The Raiders coach said being able to bring a direct replacement in for Nicoll-Klokstad - rather than reshuffle his backline - also showed his reserves they were in line for a call-up to the seniors.
"He's worked very hard, he's worked in a number of positions and fullback's been one of those," Stuart said of Aekins.
"He did a really good job to get the NSW Cup fullback job and he's been playing very solidly with our NSW Cup team.
"It's nice how you can go back to your NSW Cup team and replace your No.1 fullback.
"It shows for our NSW Cup players that they're legitimately playing for positions. Caleb's been playing consistently well and he gets his chance now in first grade."
MORE RAIDERS NEWS
Stuart confirmed centre Curtis Scott (ribs) passed his fitness test on Wednesday and would face the Eels after two games on the sidelines.
It means Sebastian Kris will drop out of the side after impressing in the opening five rounds.
But Stuart said Kris was still putting pressure on the outside backs in the team.
"[Scott's] fine. He passed the fitness test Wednesday, but out of respect Curtis comes back into the team," he said.
"He was only out for one or two weeks. I like to do it that way because players are honest to you then in regards to an injury.
"They don't play injured if they feel they're going to lose their spot over a game or two.
"Seb Kris has done a really good job and he's put a lot of pressure on the players in the outside back area."
The Raiders were preparing for potentially their biggest ever home crowd against the Eels.
Their current record's 18,825, set in round 24 in 2016, with ticket sales tracking towards that figure.
Stuart was expecting the crowd to be a big boost in a crucial top-eight clash for the Green Machine.
"I know it excites the players. It's good to get back in front of crowds again and with our people they're very loud, they're very passionate," he said.
"Parramatta are playing good football and we need to be at our very best to beat them and the support of the crowd is going to be a big help to us."
NRL ROUND SIX
Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Parramatta Eels at Canberra Raiders, 7.35pm.
Raiders squad: 1. Caleb Aekins, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson (c), 10. Sia Soliola, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Joe Tapine. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Ryan Sutton, 16. Siliva Havili, 17. Emre Guler. Reserves: 18. Sebastian Kris, 19. Matt Frawley, 20. Corey Harawira-Naera, 21. Dunamis Lui.
Eels squad: 1. Clinton Gutherson (c), 2. Maika Sivo, 3. Tom Opacic, 4. Marata Niukore, 5. Blake Ferguson, 6. Will Smith, 7. Mitchell Moses, 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 9. Reed Mahoney, 10. Junior Paulo, 11. Shaun Lane, 12. Ryan Matterson, 13. Nathan Brown. Interchange: 14. Oregon Kaufusi, 15. Isaiah Papali'i, 16. Keegan Hipgrave, 17. Bryce Cartwright. Reserves: 18. Joey Lussick, 19. Haze Dunster, 20. Wiremu Greig, 21. Jordan Rankin.