Having battered all comers in the National Rugby Championship, Canberra Vikings No.8 Ita Vaea is relishing the chance to take on Wallabies Scott Higginbotham and Liam Gill, as well as trying to sew up what could become a home grand final.
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But teammate James Dargaville is wary of what happened to Melbourne Rising in the inaugural NRC season – going through the home-and-away season undefeated before missing out on the grand final.
Vaea has been brilliant for the Vikings, scoring five tries as he continues his return from life-threatening blood clots.
He starred for the ACT Brumbies in their Super Rugby campaign, putting himself in the mix for the Wallabies' World Cup campaign, and now he's terrorising NRC teams.
But he'll find a tough test in the Brisbane City back row of No.8 Higginbotham and openside flanker Gill, who have 47 Test caps between them.
With both teams undefeated and just a narrow points differential separating the sides, their encounter at Viking Park will almost certainly decide the minor premiership - who will then host the final if they win their semi-final.
"This week is going to be tough, especially us forwards, we have to set up the platform and let the backs finish it off," Vaea said.
"It's going to be good going against [Higginbotham] and Gilly, but at the moment we're just focused on ourselves.
"Hopefully we get the job done on the weekend and get a home semi and a home final if we go from there."
Dargaville was a product of last year's NRC – starring in a struggling Sydney Stars outfit to impress Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham enough to earn a Super Rugby contract.
He made his Brumbies debut this year and is now showing his versatility in the Vikings backline as either an outside back or at inside-centre.
While his NRC fortunes may have changed, the 23-year-old was still wary of lessons learned from 2014.
The Melbourne Rising finished the home-and-away season on top of the ladder and entered the finals undefeated, only to lose their home semi and bow straight out of the competition.
Dargaville said they weren't worried about keeping their unbeaten run going.
"The most important thing is that we keep improving every week, if we get too far ahead of ourselves just trying to focus on not losing that could be a downfall," he said.
"A lot of teams last year were in this position and they ended up coming up short."
NRC ROUND 8
Saturday: Canberra Vikings v Brisbane City at Viking Park, 2pm.
