Cronulla halfback Chad Townsend is relishing the opportunity to spend a week alongside rugby league legend Brad Fittler in NSW City Origin camp.
Townsend grew up idolising Fittler, and now aims to tap into the former NSW and Australian five-eighth's wealth of knowledge as he enters the prime of his own career.
"I loved his left and right foot step," Townsend said of the City coach.
"I get to spend some time with him this week and ask him a lot of questions.
"He might get sick of me but I definitely will enjoy it."
The chance to link with Fittler is one of the reasons Townsend didn't hesitate to return to City camp this year, unlike more than 50 others who made themselves unavailable for the clash.
"Learning some new things off some new coaches and new players and making news mates is something I'm looking forward to," he said.
"Learning new things off Freddy (Fittler) and just seeing how he goes about his business for the week is something I definitely cherish."
The 26-year-old made his representative debut for City last year and, despite question marks over the value of the fixture, said he could feel an immediate step up from the NRL.
"The intensity was a little bit higher," Townsend said.
"The quality of play is probably a little bit better than a normal NRL game."
Townsend has shored up his long-term future with Cronulla, putting pen to paper on a three-year deal last month.
The premiership-winning half looked a revitalised man in Saturday's win over the Wests Tigers, playing his best game of the season and chipping for himself to score the match-winning try.
But he said he didn't feel a weight coming off his shoulders after re-signing, despite the manic halves merry-go-round consuming the NRL this year.
"A lot of players - their stuff gets circulated around the media and for me I was happy to just do my stuff and do my own thing," he said
"When you come off contract it's always a little bit stressful because there is the aspect of the unknown and you don't know what's going to happen.
"But discussions with Cronulla were always positive - we were always confident we would get a deal done here."
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