For six weeks of the year, Kookaburras veteran Fergus Kavanagh feels like sporting royalty.
Fans pack the stadiums to watch him and his team play. The TV audience is huge. And the pay packet is enough to tide him by for the rest of the year.
Welcome to the Hockey India League - hockey's version of cricket's IPL.
The competition is entering its fourth year, and Kavanagh has already won two titles with his Ranchi Rays outfit, which is co-owned by India's cricket captain MS Dhoni.
"In Australia, we don't get lots of people to the games, or lots of TV coverage," Kavanagh said.
"So when you go to India and people are cramming into stadiums to watch you, you feel a bit like what the AFL players feel like.
"It's the one time as a hockey player where you can kind of feel what it's like to be an elite superstar in other sports around the world."
The Rays' home stadium has a capacity of about 10,000.
But more often than not, 15,000 fans cram into the joint.
And if you're not lucky enough to get a ticket to the game, then there's always plan B.
"In my first year, we were playing in the final against Delhi," Kavanagh said.
"Outside the stadium, there's two buildings that if you stand on the roof, you can see the pitch.
"So there were about 10 people on each of these roofs so they could watch the game."
The average Kookaburra earns around $40,000 through his Hockey Australia contract.
So for Kavanagh, the $US60,000 he'll pick up for six weeks' work in the HIL is invaluable.
"In terms of hockey money, it's amazing for us. We can become full-time professional athletes," he said.
Like the IPL, the HIL is quicker and more entertaining than the traditional form of the sport.
And there's plenty of scope to experiment with rules.
In this year's competition, field goals will be worth double.
Organisers hope this will encourage more exciting play, rather than teams relying on the stock-standard penalty corners.
Season four of the HIL begins next week.
But for Kavanagh, his main priority for 2016 remains the Olympics in Rio.
The 30-year-old was part of the Kookaburras outfits that crashed to bronze at the 2008 and 2012 Games.
Anything short of gold this year would be a major disappointment.
"It's quite funny, because when people introduce you, they often say, 'Fergus has won everything in world hockey, except the Olympics'.
"I'd swap all those victories that I've had in other things just for an Olympic gold medal, because that's the ultimate of our sport.
"We've worked so hard to try to achieve it, and to fall short at both Olympics is a bitter pill to swallow."
