Being a halfback anywhere in the NRL is a serious business but in New Zealand it's a bigger task than most.
Rightly or wrongly, just like every other halfback, he bears a large part of the pride and glory when they win and wears the shame when they lose.
But if you're doing it for the Warriors it's a horse of a different colour, because no other playmaker carries the hopes of a nation on his shoulders every single week and it's hard to step lightly with a weight that heavy.
Stacey Jones found a way to do it, as did Shaun Johnson, even as it took all their brilliance, cunning and resilience.
Between them, they played halfback for the Warriors more than 470 times and the history of the club is moulded around them — Jones as the club's first home-grown folk hero, Johnson as a dazzlingly skillful modern icon.
If they ever built a Warriors' Mt Rushmore in Auckland, they'd both be on it.
So it's fair to say Luke Metcalf, even just four games into his new life as the inheritor of that legacy, has a lot to live up to, but instead of downplaying the task ahead of him or shrinking from it, he runs towards and isn't afraid to say that this isn't just what he wants, it's what he's always wanted.
"It is [a lot], but I like that. I like that challenge of having two of the best halves to ever play the game come before me and me being the next guy to take the Warriors where they want to get to," Metcalf said.
Metcalf's confidence, which never hints at arrogance, is striking. He's been waiting for a chance like this for a long time given the 26-year-old has walked a winding path to the scrumbase.
Amid stints with Manly and Cronulla, COVID and injuries have kept him to just 30 NRL games since his belated debut in 2021 even as his talents have been obvious whenever he's played at fullback or five-eighth. He's fast enough to run through a carwash and not get wet and has a fine sense for support play.
Translating those gamebreaking skills to halfback, or at least keeping the best of them while piloting the team around the park as lead playmaker, is a transition that took Jones and Johnson years to master and one Metcalf is now undertaking.
Metcalf knows he's still at the beginning of that process, but given he's been a halfback since he was running around for Orara Valley Tomahawks as a boy he believes dictating terms comes more naturally to him than people might think.
"I always grew up being a halfback and it might sound weird but the organising and that sort of stuff, I feel like that comes naturally to me because I've always done it," Metcalf said.
"But the part where I'm still growing and learning is doing that and bringing my running game to it, becoming the complete player.
"Once I get a hold of that, that's when it'll all click for me — but I'm still figuring that stuff out.
"People might not think that comes natural but I think it does for me, I'm trying to mould it all together, I'm striving for perfection and hopefully one day I'll get there."
Metcalf was at the centre of four key moments in the win over the Tigers two weeks ago, each of which showed a different aspect of his growing role as the side's halfback.
The first was the try he scored midway through the second, where he poured through in support to finish off some nice work from five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita and hooker Wayde Egan.
Metcalf's speed and support play, two things he already excels at, were on show as was his developing combination with Harris-Tavita and Egan, which will be crucial if the Warriors are to continue to improve.
"We all think the same way about the game, we watch a lot of video together, we spend a lot of time together in spine meetings talking about what we want to do, what we want to set up and how we want to play," Metcalf said.
"Webby [Andrew Webster] puts a lot of faith in myself, Wadeo and Chanel to have a voice in the game plan and talk about stuff we want to do and how we want to look each week."
The second was perhaps the most subtle — a sharp run from deep in his own half that generated the quick play-the-ball, which led to Leka Halasima's remarkable 80-metre try.
It's rare a team would get some ruck speed from one of their halves taking a carry inside their own quarter but it's proof that for Metcalf, creation can come in many forms.
Halasima's jaunt down the sideline captured much of the attention and rightly so, but Metcalf's carry was highlighted by none other than Johnson himself as a key element to what unfolded.
The two were halves partners for much of Johnson's renaissance year in 2023 and remain close mates, with Johnson acting as a key sounding board for Metcalf — as does Jones, who works as an assistant with the Warriors.
"Stacey's been awesome, we work very closely together and it's so cool to work with someone who's one of the best halfbacks to play the game," Metcalf said.
"I do a lot of kicking with him, a lot of talking around the game in general, he's so cool to work with.
"I speak to Shauny once a week still, he was one of my mates at Cronulla and then he came back to the Warriors, he's been really cool for me. He's always there if I need anything.
"It's pretty cool and an added bonus that I have them in my corner every step of the way."
Finally came two kicks — first a conversion from out wide after Halasima's try, which levelled the scores, the second a penalty from just inside the 40-metre line to give the Warriors the lead with seven minutes to go.
It was his first game-winning kick in the NRL and Metcalf didn't just rise to the occasion, he relished it.
"I've done a lot of kicking in my life. Just trust your process, it's a big moment and you're talking to yourself in your head that it's a big moment," Metcalf said.
"But you live for those sort of things, especially as a kicker. You want to be in those moments and step up to the plate, it was awesome to get my first taste of it in first grade.
"I've always been like that, I've always been confident and I've always been that kid that wants the ball in my hands at the last moment.
"I want to kick the field goal, I want to kick the goal from the sideline, I've always had that in me.
"The game was going and I thought it would come down to something like that, so I wanted it in my hands and I was confident in myself that I could do that.
"I can't wait for more opportunities like that in my career."
Like Metcalf, the Warriors as a whole are still a work in progress but the signs are promising.
Despite an awful start to the season against Canberra in Las Vegas and a slew of injuries to the outside backs, they've won three in a row heading into Sunday's clash with Melbourne.
New Zealand once held the reputation of always playing the Storm well, which Jones and Johnson played a large roll in forging.
But it's now been many lean winters for the Kiwi club against the Victorians — the Storm have won the past 16 matches between the two dating back to 2016.
Metcalf faces a considerable personal challenge as he goes head-to-head with another Kiwi maestro in Jahrome Hughes, who also had to bide his time to get a chance as a playmaker.
Taking him and the Storm down is no easy task but it's another hard thing Metcalf is putting in his sights and by now the pattern should be clear.
Be it taking a tough carry from his own line, getting the ball in his hands with the game in the balance or living up to the legacy of legends, Metcalf wants it all.
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