“Sam played centre, Jamie played centre, and Kade was five-eighth. Sam was fast, Kade was talented, but Jamie was the star. Everyone in the Shire knew about Jamie Humphreys when he was a young kid.”

Humphreys will wear the Souths No. 7 jersey for the third week, having been the hero against St George Illawarra last weekend when he calmly slotted the winning field-goal from 30 metres out.

Stonestreet, who recalled some hard-fought sprint duels on the beach with Humphreys when they were nippers at Cronulla Surf Club, expected Humphreys’ left boot to send plenty of bombs towards his wing.

“I’ll look for him in the line when I run it back,” Stonestreet said on Tuesday. “We played a lot of games back in the day, won a few comps, and he was a freak back in the day.

“He’s always been stocky, well-mannered, while his family are also awesome people. He’s stepped up playing halfback, and he’s doing well.”

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Humphreys left the Shire when he was 13 and spent five years in England after his father, former Wests Tigers and Manly chief executive Stephen Humphreys, started a new job in London. He returned to Sydney and spent a few years in Manly’s system before joining Souths over the summer.

“I thought he’d progress into a hooker more than a half,” Dykes said. “I still think he’ll end up a really good hooker because he has a great left foot, can ball-play – but that’s not to say he won’t kick arse at halfback.”

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