Wests Tigers winger David Nofoaluma will cap off a career-best 2016 when he makes his international debut for Samoa in their Test match against Fiji on October 8.
The in-form 22-year-old, who has already amassed 35 tries in 63 games for Wests Tigers, is no stranger to the representative arena — having featured for City Origin during 2016, as well as the Prime Minister's XIII against Papua New Guinea in November last year.
Despite that, the significance of representating both himself and his family in Samoa's first ever Test match on home soil wasn't lost on the Campbelltown Collegians junior.
"It's going to be a great experience for myself and I'm excited to play," he said.
"It's actually going to be my first time travelling over to Samoa.
"Most of my background is Samoan, and my family is from there.
"It's going to be a great honour to play for Samoa and it's going to make my family proud, which is something special and that's I guess what makes me happiest with this.
"I've only met one aunty from that side of the family, but I get to meet the rest of my family that I've never before over there in Samoa, so that's really nice too."
Having scored six tries or more in ever season since his debut year in 2013, Nofoaluma undoubtedly took his game to a new level in 2016 — finishing the season with a team-high 14 tries and more tackle breaks than any other player in the competition.
While praising the efforts of the Club's forwards in halves in his success, the 22-year-old said he was proud of his own efforts during the year — creating a strong platform to develop even further as a player in 2017.
"For myself, I look back and I couldn't be happier with the way I finished," he said.
"My goal was to play as many games as I could, and I only missed one game, which I was really proud about. It was a good thing to be able to really get some consistent footy.
"It was nice to be able to polish off some good work from the team with tries.
"I'm really excited going into next year with the group of players at this Club," he added.
"I'm looking to doing better things and training better to have an even better season in 2017."
Toa Samoa will confirm their full squad for the one-off Test match in the coming days.
See the full insightful interview with David on his international debut in the video above!
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