Cronulla fullback Valentine Holmes insists he is not nervous about Josh Dugan's impending arrival at the NRL club.
Holmes re-signed with the Sharks on a two-year deal earlier this year, and has expressed his desire to play in Cronulla's No.1 jersey from as early as his first full season in first grade, in 2015.
Dugan meanwhile has played fullback for the majority of his career at St George Illawarra and Canberra, while he has also spent six of his 10 NSW Origin games in the No.1 jersey.
But when asked about Dugan's arrival at the club, Holmes was confident the Blues' representative would play in the centres while he stayed at fullback.
"I think it's massive," Holmes said.
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"I think he's a very good centre and I hope that's what he's coming to play."
Holmes and Dugan played together for Australia at last year's Four Nations and last month's Anzac Test - where the Cronulla flyer said they had become good friends.
The 21-year-old said he is yet to speak with Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan about his position for 2018.
The Sharks coach has said since Dugan's signing he still expected Holmes to be the club's fullback for the next 10 seasons.
But he didn't rule out shifting him to the wing, where he scored 19 tries in their premiership-winning season.
However when asked if he was nervous about keeping the fullback jersey, Holmes just joked that Dugan's legs might be getting a little old.
"Nah, not at all (nervous)," Holmes said
"But he's pretty good. He's done a lot there, he's played Origin at fullback."
Meanwhile Holmes still has a challenge on his hands to play against Dugan in the Origin arena this year.
He was the only fit Queensland-eligible Australian representative not picked for the Maroons in Game I, which they ultimately lost 28-4.
But Holmes said he understood that didn't guarantee him an Origin selection, as Queensland coach Kevin Walters opted to stick with a largely unchanged back five from the one that beat NSW last year.
"I played on the wing last year on the right side and Benny (Barba) was making me look good there," Holmes said.
"I think because Mal Meninga was the new coach he had only been there for a while he was just picking the team on form."
