If watching a young Wests Tigers side run rings around Canterbury was akin to watching school kids have fun in the park, that's how they see it too.
"We sort of play like it's a Thursday arvo for Holy Cross [College], we just take it easy," said one of the products of said nursery, Curtis Sironen.
Sironen is one of four current Tiger cubs – along with Mitchell Moses, Luke Brooks and Aaron Woods – who have come through the system at Holy Cross College in Ryde.
The quartet all learned their football under sometime history teacher Tim White. Because of injuries and their age difference, they didn't all get to play together until they graduated. Now they are making up for lost time.
White described Sironen as a "student of the game", whose application on the field matched that in the classroom.
The big back-rower achieved a UAI in the high 80s and graduated to uni about the same time he graduated to first grade. The only thing that could stop gun playmakers Brooks and Moses was injury. And then there was Woods. "In Year 10, he was the only bloke with a full beard, chest hair and a tattoo," Sironen grinned.
The four of them are the main reasons there is so much optimism about the long-term prospects of the Wests Tigers.
The joint-venture club recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, naming the best-ever side. Insiders believe Moses, Brooks, Woods and Sironen will be inductees when the exercise is repeated in another 15 years' time.
The pressure of expectation has brought undone many promising players but this batch is unlikely to be affected.
"It doesn't feel like we're playing first grade," Brooks said. "We've all played together and it's made the transition to first grade easier. We're familiar with each other's games and we're just having fun out there, making the most of our time in first grade."
While some sports high schools concentrate on little else, Holy Cross has managed to find a balance between football and French. As Sironen's grades will attest. "The rule was you had to do 10 units before you play footy," Sironen said.
"We were never one of those schools you here about where the boys just rock up for training on Tuesday and game day. We were all there for school, I just don't think Mitch, Woodsy and Brooksie had that much brains.
"All the boys put in, it was always school first and then playing footy with your mates was a bonus."
The number of Holy Cross students to play first grade is an impressive one. Ben Elias, Paul Sironen, Mark Riddell, Chris Anderson, Scott and Brett Gale, Paul Clarke, David Gower and Jacob Marketo are just some of those to make the grade.
White has been the common denominator in current Tigers crop.
"He's been a driving force ... He's been awesome for us. It's not actually a rugby league program school any more, it's more about the academic side of things. But with Whitey there, it will always be a competitive footy side."
Brooks added: "He just let us play footy. He was a good coach for all of us, taught us a lot and has been a big influence on our careers."
The Tigers' clash with St George Illawarra will be a chance to again showcase their skills on the biggest stage. Playing against former teammate Benji Marshall, it is shaping as a defining game for both clubs, who are yet to make a call on the long-term future of their coaches.
"It will be different, when I came into grade [Marshall] was my halves partner, so he taught me a bit," Sironen said.
"We'll be prepared for him, we want to have a go at the eight."
