Adam Quinlan has just been strapped into St George Illawarra's halfback hotseat. Cooper Cronk has a mortgage on the most prized No 7 jumper in the land.
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So you can hardly blame Quinlan, the NRL's least experienced man in the chief organising role, for not wanting to think too much about the enormous task of taming rugby league's premier halfback.
"I don't want to think about the personal battles too much," Quinlan said before the Dragons head south trying to erase a wretched record against the Storm next Monday night.
"I watch a bit of footy and I've seen a lot of Cooper Cronk play. I try to learn as much as I can off all the quality players out there, but I just want to worry about myself and the team and hopefully come away with a win."
Quinlan became the third man to start at halfback for St George Illawarra this season in their heavy loss to the Rabbitohs on Saturday night, but even he struggled to get a guide on his performance.
Despite doing very little training at halfback, Quinlan has made it clear to coach Steve Price he wants to be given a shot at staking a permanent claim for the jumper.
"Now that I've been given this shot at halfback I've got to try to make it my own and stay there as long as I can," Quinlan said.
"I hadn't trained in the halves and wasn't really thinking [about playing there]. And then when [Price] told me I was just stoked to still be a part of the 17. I was really happy with that, but didn't expect it.
"Now I need to build partnerships with the right side as well as Gaz [Gareth Widdop] and Reiny [Mitch Rein] at hooker."
Price might be left scratching his head on Quinlan's suitability at halfback on the evidence of his effort against the Rabbitohs.
A monster South Sydney forward pack built up a head of steam as a litany of penalties had St George Illawarra on the back foot.
But Josh Dugan is one man who will be more than happy to have Quinlan in the fold permanently.
"I've always said he's one of those players that needs to be in the side," Dugan said.
"He can create something from nothing. He's got great support play and he's only going to get better the more he plays [at halfback]. We'll give him that time and he'll build confidence."
