Melbourne centre Will Chambers admits the possibility of facing former teammate Cooper Cronk in the NRL next season will be a "strange" match-up.
Cronk has been kept off limits in Melbourne as the Kangaroos veteran prepares for Friday's Rugby League World Cup opener against England.
However speculation surrounding his future continues to overshadow the 14-nation tournament after revelations last week he advised his manager to search for options in Sydney.
Chambers joked he would "love to get stuck into" Cronk should the former Storm general continue his NRL career next season, before admitting the uniqueness of the situation.
"It will be strange, but we'll just have to wait and see if he does decide to play on or what he does decide to do. If he is looking around, we'll see what happens," Chambers said.
The Kangaroos centre said Cronk had departed from Melbourne on good terms after playing a leading role in the club's premiership triumph over North Queensland earlier this month.
The Sydney Roosters are widely tipped to lure the incumbent Queensland State of Origin No.7 to the club, raising concerns over the futures of Mitchell Pearce and Jake Friend.
"He wants to get back closer to his partner, he's getting married next year and he's got all that to look forward to," Chambers said.
"He's not moving because he wanted to leave the club, he had to leave for his family and at the end of the day, footy's only a little part of our life.
"And if he looks around and plays elsewhere, so be it. He's left our club with the full blessing of all the players and coaching staff."
Chambers credited Cronk as one of a number of people to help him in a year where he earned Kangaroos selection on top of enjoying Origin and NRL premiership success.
"I give a lot of credit to the three of them - Coops, Billy (Slater) and Cam (Smith). They've helped me on and off the field with a leadership role and stuff like that.
"They're the three best players to learn off.
"They've achieved everything there is to achieve in our game yet they're always trying to get better as well and improve their games.
"When you're a young kid coming through, you think you're pretty good until you come across these three guys who've done everything there is to do in the game."
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