The hotly-contested Anthony Laffranchi Cup will again be on the line on Monday night when the Future Titans host the Wests Tigers at Piggabeen Sports Complex.
Always a special occasion for the club legend the silverware is named after, the contest will be extra special for the Laffranchi family with Anthony's son Fynn to play a part of the Gold Coast side in their quest to retain the Under 16 title.
Extremely appreciative of the honour, the occasion will be extra special for Titan #9 with his son's participation in the clash - two years after his eldest Oscar helped the Future Titans claim the Cup over the Tigers.
"Anything that named in your honour, you feel privileged," he said.
"It’s a great sense of appreciation and acknowledgement and for it to exist in the pathways program, it’s even better.
"The boys have put in a fair bit of hard work to get themselves there and have earned those opportunities.
"Oscar was a good occasion to represent the Titans within the game and now to see Fynn follow in the same path is pretty exciting and to have both boys in the program and the club is something they’ve worked hard for and they’ll continue to work hard.
"As a family, we’re pretty proud."
Playing 205 NRL games across his career - 103 for the Tigers and 102 for the Titans - both clubs remain close to Laffranchi for differing reasons - a life member at the Wests Tigers and currently the general manager of football at Gold Coast.
"I’m very close with both clubs and was very fortunate to play with two great clubs," he said.
"At the Tigers, you can’t deny the fact they gave me an opportunity and allowed me to start my NRL career. I also have great memories in terms of the grand final win and great people at the club, but to come home and start at the Titans from scratch in 2007 as an inaugural member is extremely special.
"I’m very very fortunate to be still involved in the club ten years post retirement."
With the Titans hoping to again retain the Cup on home soil after a dominant few years, it's expected to be another tight tussle after last year's clash went down to a conversion after the siren.
"It's always been a good clash and it's a great opportunity for the Tigers to come up and for our junior boys to get a game against players they don’t typically come up against through school or club footy or even local representative programs," Laffranchi said.
"I know the Tigers enjoy the trip up and we enjoy the challenge.
"I'm expecting it to be a good game, but I hope we retain the Cup."
