No player in the history of Australian rugby league has ever had a debut like the one Lewis Dodd will face on Good Friday.
Any one of the features of his first NRL match for the Rabbitohs would be enough to make it remarkable on its own.
But add up the simultaneous fascination and scepticism that comes with any English player heading south to try their luck, the increased scrutiny that comes with being a halfback who arrives at a new club with a bit of a resume and the expected record crowd of close to 70,000, and Dodd's maiden NRL voyage is already off the edge of the map.
He will likely come off the bench against the Bulldogs, which only adds to the uncertainty. Perhaps a hamstring twinge for Cody Walker will grant him big minutes in the halves, or a failed HIA will force him into duty somewhere else.
Perhaps everyone stays fit and Dodd comes on and poke around the middle a bit, trying to make something happen. Perhaps he'll barely get on the field at all.
Where he fits in on Friday, like where he might fit in the NRL, is not as obvious as it would be for current England Test halves George Williams and Harry Smith or reigning Man of Steel winner Mikey Lewis, all of whom boast resumes even the most sceptical Australian could not ignore.
Dodd is not as decorated as that trio — still just 23, he is yet to play for England or make the Super League Team of the Year — nor does he fit the stereotypical Australian view of English halves, that of an unorthodox and daringly brilliant playmaker.
According to former North Queensland fullback Lachlan Coote, who won a premiership alongside Dodd in the latter's first year as a starter with St Helens in 2021, his strengths were more mental and emotional than physical.
"He played well above his age. He seemed like he was very experienced, even when he was still a kid — he was level-headed, calm," Coote said.
"Coming into a red hot St Helens team, it was well above what he should have been able to do.
"It was a big ask, but he stood up. It seemed like he'd been there for years.
"He's got that good left-foot boot, but it's more how he can handle setting up plays, his passing game and the selection of passing he had, it was surprising in such a young kid.
"He's got a lot of tools and he could use them under pressure, that stood out to me.
"He needs to understand it'll be tough and that sticking to the process — kick to the corners, earn the right to play footy — that will be the hardest transition for him.
"But we did that a lot at St Helens, it's nothing he isn't used to."
The qualities Coote describes sound similar to what South Sydney found in Jamie Humphreys, a far less heralded recruit over the summer, who starred in their unexpectedly strong start to the season after Dodd was suspended in the Charity Shield.
Through a combination of his confident kicking game, robust running and a bit of grace under pressure, Humphreys now seems to be everything South Sydney have been looking for at halfback.
With Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell on hand, and Jye Grey becoming the club's newest energizer bunny, the Rabbitohs needed a technician, not another artist and they have found one in Humphreys.
It puts Dodd in a strange kind of purgatory. He might have lost a chance at a job he never really got to try and win to begin with, the odd man out in a dance where he never heard the music.
It means every second of NRL action he can get from here on out is vital as he tries to prove he can buck off the curse that seems to befall so many English halves and backs once they get south of the equator.
All of that comes before the 70,000 fans, the blue and white of whom will be merciless, who are expected to welcome Dodd to the NRL on Friday.
But that's the part of the challenge Coote feels most confident about Dodd facing. Australian crowds may be larger at the big stadiums, but the English ones Dodd is accustomed to have a more intimate and personal intensity.
"The English crowds create a different atmosphere with the songs and the way the crowds battle between themselves," Coote said.
"It adds to the pressure and the hype, opposition fans singing songs about you if you stuff up adds to it, it makes it feel more personal.
"Lewis has experienced Challenge Cup semi-finals, grand finals at Old Trafford, he's felt hype around a game before and that helps, even if he's on the other side of the world for this one."
This is not how anybody would have pictured Dodd's debut, for better and for worse, and even if he's not in centre stage the lights could not be brighter.
Unless he makes a grand final on either side of the world, or Challenge Cup or World Cup final, there's a chance that this will be the biggest crowd he plays in front of in his entire career.
It's a tough way to start after a difficult beginning and the job won't get easier for a while, if it ever does at all. With Humphreys set to return soon and Bud Sullivan back from suspension next week, who knows when this chance might come again?
Add it all up and you have something that'd test any man's mettle be they on debut or a 300 gamer or a stranger in a strange land, striving to prove they belong with the best in the world.
[sports newsletter]
