They are on opposite sides of Sydney's biggest football rivalry, but Joel King and Tate Russell are ready to unite together in green and gold.
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The Illawarra duo will line up in the Olyroos' defence at Jubilee Stadium on Thursday night against Sydney FC.
For Shellharbour's King, it will be a strange feeling to play against his A-League club. However, the 20-year-old said he looked forward to working alongside Western Sydney Wanderers defender, Wollongong's Russell.
"I've known Tate since I was about 12 I think. He's a good mate of mine but obviously when we play the Wanderers, he's not a good mate of mine. But in camp, he's a good guy and I speak to him quite a bit," King said.
"We trained twice and already the team looks good. There's a lot of really good players in the side. I'm excited to see how we go.
"Obviously I'll know how Sydney FC plays so I'll have a bit of an advantage out all of Olyroos boys. But it will be a good experience, I'm looking forward to it."
King's call up to the Australian under 23s side was reward following a breakout A-League campaign.
After making his debut in 2018/19, the left back became a fixture in Sydney FC's title-winning side this season, playing in 26 games including their grand final win over Melbourne City.
King is part of a 26-man squad that has gone into an Olyroos camp this week ahead of their clash with Sydney FC. The squad includes King's sky blues teammates Luke Ivanovic and Tom Heward-Belle, while there are four Wanderers players.
King said he was proud to get the chance to pull on the green and gold jersey.
"I've done it a couple of times with Joeys and Young Socceroos, but the Olyroos is different. I've been trying to get into this squad for a while so to get into this camp, it's pretty special. It's a dream come true," King said.
"The training has been intense and it's good to compare myself a lot of the other young boys in the A-League. I'm excited to see how I compare.
"We're 100 per cent going in to win it, [Olyroos coach] Graham Arnold has already said that. We're there to play the game and we're going to try and win. We've already started building some tactics against them, so it will be interesting to see the result."
Thursday night will also be interesting for Arnold, as he prepares to coach against his former A-League club.
"I was in the youth team when he was at Sydney FC, so I didn't see too much of him then. But he is really good, I like him a lot," King said.
"I've also worked with Tony Vidmar before at the AIS and he's here at the moment, he's helping me a lot. And Andrew Clark, the strength and conditioning [coach] has been teaching me a few things too. I'm enjoying it and trying to learn as much as I can."
After Thursday's game, King will return to the Sydney FC squad as they prepare to fly to Qatar for their upcoming AFC Champions League campaign. It means he will miss the Olyroos' second clash, against A-League newcomers Macarthur FC, next Tuesday night.
However, King expects the Bulls to put up a strong challenge at Jubilee Stadium.
"That will be a good experience [for the Olyroos]," the defender said.
"For Sydney FC, we versed them the other week and they were good. They had a few strong players. This year, I think they will be tough opposition."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
