Until recently, Nick Millar was the big man who let his actions do the speaking.
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But over the last couple of years, Boggabri's hulking, aggressive prop has found his voice on the footy field. And, subsequently, he has become a key leadership figure within the team, under respected captain Matt Gillham.
"I'm usually a quiet bloke on the field who just does my job," Millar said.
"But the last couple of years, I've had to start using my voice. Playing the way I should be playing."
Given Millar's experience as a young man playing high level footy for the South Sydney Rabbitohs under 20s in Sydney, it is a natural progression.
That personal growth was recognised by the Kangaroos late last year when they named him coach of the club's reserve grade side.
While he has always been a standout player on the field, Millar said the additional responsibility has spurred him to make an even bigger impact for Boggabri.
"It makes you step up, I think," he said.
"Everyone needs a voice, and when you're in that coaching role and you're telling them what to do at training, so they turn to you in the game, too."
If last weekend's derby match against the Gunnedah Bulldogs was anything to go by, Millar is lined up for a big year in 2024.
He was a constant figure in their defence, making tackles left and right to help stymie the Bulldogs' incursions towards the Kangaroos' tryline. He also scored two tries - the second of which came via the kind of dummy that is rare to see from a big forward.
"I used to run in the centres back in juniors," Millar said with a laugh.
"But I used to be a little bit quicker too. I saw them pushing up on the outside, so there was no point in me passing."
Post-match, Millar was one of the players praised by coach Shane Rampling in what he considered an otherwise sub-par victory.
"You know what he brings every week, and the boys have got to learn to follow him and listen to him out there," Rampling said.
"Nick's outstanding for us. He runs the ball hard, he's a good talker ... [and the second try] came against the grain. He was just being smart, instead of bashing it up at the post, he came a bit wider and ran it through the middle."
