He scaled rugby league's heights last year, but it seems being called a "star" still doesn't feel quite right for Raiders international Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
"Star? Man, I'm sitting next to a lot of stars," Nicoll-Klokstad smiled at the Telstra Premiership season launch on Thursday night.
"It's been a whirlwind of a 12 months and if you'd asked me 12 months ago if I'd be in this position, I'd laugh."
But Nicoll-Klokstad's standing among the NRL's top-billing acts is no joke after his heroics in helping Canberra to the grand final.
And although his humble demeanour hasn't changed, the Kiwi fullback is confident he can find another gear in 2020.
"It's not going away from what I did well last year, it's just adding to my craft little bits at a time. You don't want to change anything too drastically," he said.
"I'm really excited for what the year's got in store for myself. I've trained as hard as I could... I'm excited to put it all together.
"I think I've got a lot to learn still. I'm fairly new to being a fullback in the NRL and I don't have to look too far to get tips.
"There's [James] Tedesco there and Roger [Tuivasa-Sheck], just to name the two that I sort of look at."
CNK in focus
Another challenge for Nicoll-Klokstad will be forming a combination with new halfback George Williams, who comes to the NRL after a successful career with Wigan.
The 25-year-old playmaker hasn't had the smoothest pre-season down under – he arrived in January and then was set back by a quad strain – but Nicoll-Klokstad is adamant Williams will be a smash hit.
"He's got a wealth of experience coming from the Super League. I think he's played over 200 games, he's won a premiership," he said.
"He's an Englishman. Something that I really enjoyed playing with Englishmen [John Bateman, Josh Hodgson, Ryan Sutton and Elliott Whitehead] last year was this edge – they have to win.
"Him being a half, it's going to be an asset to us. He's a leader in his own right, he's got a short kicking game, good with his defence, so I'm really looking forward to it."
Canberra's other key signing, centre Curtis Scott, has been cleared to play in round one. The NRL this week opted against standing Scott down as he defends several charges in court after an incident with police.
Nicoll-Klokstad said it was a "big boost" to have the ex-Storm player on deck for their opening clash against the Titans at GIO Stadium.
"He's already won a premiership and he's got the qualities that our side are looking for and he's going to bring that competitiveness on the right edge," Nicoll-Klokstad said of Scott.
"He's been training the house down.
"He was upset with himself which was normal. He understood that he made a mistake. He dealt with the consequences. We've moved on."
