Senio and Peter Brown grew up in New Zealand, but had never seen the All Blacks live.
That all changed on Friday for the Thornton-based boys, who watched their rugby union heroes and one of the world's most famed sporting teams train from the stands at McDonald Jones Stadium.
The Brown brothers were two of around 50 Hunter junior players, all with Kiwi backgrounds, who attended the captain's run in Newcastle ahead of Saturday's Tri Nations fixture between New Zealand and Argentina at the same venue.
The siblings, along with dad and coach Junior, will also return as spectators for the Test match.
"I'm extremely excited," Senio, 12, said.
Peter, 11, said he was looking forward to "them winning".
Junior, who said the family used to be based in Auckland before moving to Australia last year, "had never seen the All Blacks" when living in New Zealand.
Father-son duo Chris and Hunter Heath, also linked with the Maitland club who wear a similar black uniform to the Wallabies' trans-Tasman rivals, watched on as the three-time World Cup champions went through their paces out in the middle.
Lake Macquarie junior Hayden Tuhakaraina, 9, donned a Te Puna club jersey from where New Zealand captain Sam Cane once played.
"It's amazing. This might never happen again here," Hayden's mother Abbey said about the visiting All Blacks.
If Kiwi international Aaron Smith wasn't Mason Filipo's favourite player, he certainly is now after the No.9 gave his personalised shorts and socks to the aspiring halfback. Emanuel Leota ended up with the boots of New Zealand No.8 Ardie Savea.
Most of the Hunter's junior clubs were represented on Friday including Easts, Merewether, Singleton, Southern Beaches and The Waratahs.
Saturday will mark New Zealand's first Test in Newcastle but the All Blacks have previously played a tour game at the Turton Road facility, lining up against NSW Country in 1980.
Upcoming opponents Argentina, who drew 15-all with the Wallabies in Newcastle last weekend, held a training session at the same ground on Friday afternoon.
The Pumas will try and honour Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, who died earlier this week, while in the Hunter region and during the rest of their campaign in Australia.
"He's a big figure in our country and he epitomised a lot of the way the Argentinians are," Pumas coach Mario Ledesma said.
"We'll try to remember him the best way possible, which was on the field representing the colours, and use that as an example of how to play for this jersey."
Meanwhile, Hunter Sports defeated Tomaree in Friday's open schoolboys final at Broadmeadow to claim the Steve Merrick Cup.
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