It's quite hard to wipe the big smile off Jacob Alick's face at the moment... even despite being put on standby to line-up for his second NRL match this Sunday.
Running out in front of 60 of his nearest and dearest as part of a strong crowd at Cbus Super Stadium at the weekend, the 23-year-old had a career-defining moment in his debut against the Dolphins; and will now have a keen eye on what happens with the Queensland quartet after being named in the reserves for the Titans in this week's clash against Parramatta.
Whilst the talented edge forward didn't get the fairytale result having lost the nail-biting contest in golden-point, his first taste of the top grade is an experience he will never forget.
"I absolutely loved it... it's probably the best day of my life honestly," Alick said.
"Just to be out there and get the minutes that I did, I wasn't really expecting it.
"I had 60 people there and plenty of people watching it at home, and PNG and all that getting around me, which was good fun.
"I also had a million messages before and after the game, so to have that much support and see how proud I was making people was really good for me.
"It's given me a big buzz for the whole week and to be honest, I'm still on it right now."
Having starred in 54 Hostplus Cup games before his call-up to the Titans' top 17, Alick had little time to quander on the bench with pre-game nerves, jettisoned into the contest in the 20th minute to play all but the rest of the game.
He even producing a deft kick in one of his first touches to send Alofiana Khan-Pereira over for a try that was later denied in what was a strong maiden showing, admitting adrenaline was his saving grace to help him through the step up from reserve grade.
"The speed of the game was next level, but it was pretty similar contact wise... definitely a lot faster than Cup though, Alick admitted.
"I was tired about five minutes in and I was just getting barked at by Foz to keep going, which was good.
"Watching that first 20 minutes, it was end-to-end and no one was really making any errors, so I was thinking... 'is this how it's going to be the whole 80?'
"But just to get in there and calm the nerves early, I got an early touch which was good and I just got into the flow of the game.
"I was blowing though... I just got through with adrenaline, so it was good fun."
'It was the best day of my life': Alick
Although relegated back to the reserves with the anticipated return of Moeaki Fotuaika, Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and David Fifita after Origin for this weekend's trip to CommBank, Alick has declared the NRL arena is where he wants to be with a huge desire to keep working hard to be considered again.
"This is obviously the level that I want to play at and I've trained for my whole life to be here. I always back myself and I'm confident that I can play at the NRL level," he said.
"We have a few injuries and a couple of HIA's too, so I'm not sure how it's going to fall my way, but I'll put myself in the best possible position to be there and hopefully I'll get the call up again.
"This is where I want to be, especially with being able to play with the calibre of players [in the NRL].
"This weekend, hopefully we do get our Origin boys to backup, but this definitely the level I want to play at... I loved every second of it and hopefully I get to do it more."
