Jared Waerea-Hargreaves credits a conversation he had with rugby league legend Steve Roach almost 15 years ago for setting him on the path to 300 NRL games.
Waerea-Hargreaves became only the 50th player in Australian rugby league history to reach the coveted milestone as his Sydney Roosters belted South Sydney 48-6 on Friday night.
The Roosters spent the week planning a performance that would honour Waerea-Hargreaves, who has played all but six of his 300 games at the Eastern Suburbs club.
At captain's run, the playing group and ex-Roosters gathered to pay tribute to the 35-year-old, sharing their favourite memories.
Former teammate Mitchell Pearce presented Waerea-Hargreaves with his game-day jersey just before kick-off.
"It was an emotional week for sure. It was pretty overwhelming," Waerea-Hargreaves said.
In the lead-up to round three, much was made of Waerea-Hargreaves' milestone given the uncompromising physicality with which the prop has played the game.
"It's probably rare to see someone hold onto that fire for as long as he's held onto it," Roosters coach Trent Robinson said on Thursday.
Asked how he had managed to keep the fire burning for 16 years, Waerea-Hargreaves said his on-field intensity was a matter of purpose.
Waerea-Hargreaves recalled a conversation he had with Balmain Tigers great 'Blocker' Roach shortly after joining the Roosters for the 2010 season.
The 21-year-old Waerea-Hargreaves ran into Roach in the bowels of the old Allianz Stadium and as a friend of Roach's son Dan, he stopped for a chat.
"Roach sort of stopped and said, 'I love your style, keep doing what you're doing, but you don't realise 'til you're about 27, who you are. At about 27, you find out who you really are, your identity as a player, as a front-rower, as a man'," Waerea-Hargreaves recalled.
"At the time I was 21, I was like, 'Yeah, yeah, I know who I am'. But I didn't."
With time, love for family and club formed a deep-seeded purpose within Waerea-Hargreaves that drove the prop to become one of the league's most enduring hard men.
"I still remember that chat really clearly," he said.
"Then you have kids and a purpose and a why, to see how much joy it brings them and to be able to give them an opportunity at life, and to come and see these boys at a great club and stadium. That's my why.
"That's the fire and the love and passion."
