Roosters giant Dylan Napa has no regrets about turning his back on the club he supported as a kid but may exercise a degree of payback when his side takes to the field against the Broncos on Friday night.

Suncorp Stadium, rather than Bondi, may well have been the regular stomping ground for Napa, whose father Stan was a Brisbane rugby league hardman in the '70s and whose son plays the game with the same fearless abandon.

Now 22, Napa has blossomed into one of the game's most destructive young forwards and is firmly on target to take his game to new levels next month, when he stands to be selected for his Queensland Origin debut in the series opener against NSW.

But he could have been taking the step from Red Hill if the Broncos had been a touch quicker in their attempts to recruit the teenager, who was "doing nothing in Brissie" before the Roosters snapped him up as a rough diamond learning the ropes with club side Norths Devils.

"I was playing for Norths Under 18s and was lucky enough to be spotted by Jamie Matthew, who was a scout for the Roosters at the time," Napa recalled. "He came and watched a game of mine and, luckily enough, I played well.

"He said he'd come again the week after and he didn't come and I played pretty badly, which was lucky. He came a few weeks later and I played well again. He asked if I wanted to come to Sydney for two years. I was more than happy."

Napa grew up idolising Broncos players such as Gorden Tallis and Darren Lockyer but didn't think he was on the radar of his hometown club. By the time word reached Brisbane recruiters that the Roosters were closing in, they made their move.

It was too late. Napa had decided to head south and hasn't looked back. The flame-haired, throwback prop recently has renewed his deal and ensured he will be walloping rivals for the Roosters until the end of 2017.

Napa said that, while there was an emotional tug when the Broncos began to increase their interest, he never had a real second thought about moving south, partly to show Brisbane that they might have missed a very substantial trick.

There's little doubt Wayne Bennett will covet a player of Napa's stature as he begins to add layers to a Brisbane pack that can do with some added physical presence and a ready-made enforcer.

"I was a little bit dirty that they didn't want me at the start, so I wanted to go," Napa said. "But I respect the Broncos, they're a great side. It should be interesting come Friday night.

"I was doing nothing in Brissie. I was just cruising. The Roosters got in early and were pretty keen. The Broncos weren't really too keen but they got keen when they found out. It was too late by then. I'd already signed."

At 194 centimetres and 109 kilograms, Napa hasn't had any trouble adjusting to the physical demands of top-flight rugby league and has already earned himself a reputation as one of the more brutal defenders in the code.

It's little surprise he has found inspiration in the kamikaze runs of former Maroons fullback Karmichael Hunt, while he has honed other parts of his game by watching replay after replay of Sonny Bill Williams laying out defenders with his signature shoulder charge.

"I didn't go [to Origin] as a kid but my favourite player was Karmichael Hunt," Napa said. "There was no fear. He wasn't the biggest on the field but he sprinted as straight as he could.

"I'm not sure [where my style came from] ... I think I was just trying to be Sonny Bill at school. I watched a whole bunch of Sonny Bill videos and just tried doing it on the field. Some worked, some didn't."