Queensland lock Pat Carrigan scaled the heights in his inaugural State of Origin series last year and now he's aiming to raise the bar even higher.
Carrigan was the Wally Lewis Medal winner in 2022 as player of the series in the Maroons 2-1 win, but he is not satisfied with that ahead of Wednesday night's clash with NSW at Suncorp Stadium.
While he is keen to make more of a contribution on a personal level, it is how he can impact the team that counts.
He and his fellow Maroons have embraced an African philosophy known as 'Ubuntu' which places the wellbeing of the collective ahead of the individual.
In a team sense, the Zulu word reinforces the idea that achieving a goal can only be accomplished through selfless acts not selfish ones.
Channel Nine reported how coach Billy Slater showed Queensland's players a documentary called The Playbook which detailed how 2008 Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers used the Ubuntu concept to unite the team on their way to the NBA title.
"It is all about this game, this jersey and this state being more than just you," Carrigan said when asked what Ubuntu meant to him.
"There is an opportunity for us to wear this jersey at the moment but that is not going to last forever.
"While you get the opportunity, you have to be the best version of yourself as a footballer and the team comes before you do.
"Guys like Daly Cherry-Evans, Benny Hunt and the guys who are coaching us who have been here for a long time have drilled the 'we' into the jersey.
"When those guys have no ego it makes it easy for the young fellas to come in and be the exact same."
Carrigan said the Maroons were open to investigating "other sporting codes to see what successful organisations have done".
"It is just about learning from that," he said.
The Maroons can wrap up the series with a win in Brisbane and Carrigan said he just has to look around him at training to realise what he has achieved in the past is not relevant now.
He said he must set the bar higher.
"Give me more," Carrigan said.
"The opportunity to do some of those things last year was pretty special. I was super-grateful just to be in this team.
"It is a pretty special reality check when I get to rub shoulders with DCE (captain Cherry-Evans) and be coached by guys like Johnno (Johnathan Thurston), Nate Myles, Cam Smith and Billy Slater.
"They are the greats of the game. As long as I have got that feeling as a Queenslander when I run out, that will never change for me.
"I just want more and more and more, and to keep getting better personally.
"That's where my focus is."
