North Queensland workhorse Gavin Cooper is only too aware he's probably third on the bill for NRL milestones this weekend.
Cooper will play his 300th first-grade game on Sunday against Sydney Roosters at Central Coast Stadium.
His achievement comes on the same weekend as Cameron Smith notches up NRL game 400 and Benji Marshall also plays his 300th game.
For a player who spent most of his career doing the hard yards away from the spotlight, the irony of sharing his milestone weekend alongside such giants of the game isn't missed.
"It's good to have my name mentioned alongside those other guys who have played 300 games but I think Smithy's blown us out of the ballpark this week," Cooper said.
"I wouldn't change any of the story so far."
While Cooper doesn't have the star attraction of Smith and Marshall, his NRL career is full of achievements.
He has made six State of Origin appearances for Queensland and was a member of North Queensland's inaugural premiership-winning team in 2015.
The 33-year-old has also scored 77 tries, most of them coming in support of the only other Cowboy to play 300 NRL games - former skipper Johnathan Thurston.
His record-breaking hat-trick in six minutes against Parramatta in 2015 and being the first forward to score in nine consecutive games at the back end of the 2018 campaign emphasise Cooper's try-scoring reputation.
While Cooper is no longer the wild kid from Murgon sporting a rat's tail and hitting Townsville's notorious Mad Cow Tavern on a weekend, he isn't planning on giving the game away just yet either.
"Mine's diesel now, used to be petrol," he said, when asked how much was left in the tank.
"I'm still hungry to play. Still enjoying the challenge, still enjoy turning up to training so - I won't put a time frame on it - but definitely keen to keep going."
