The significance of Massimo De Lutiis's achievement was laid bare when the descendants of the first Wallaby, armed with his red and blue cap, were in the sheds when the prop became the 1000th man to play Test rugby for Australia.
With the milestone 1000th cap on the horizon, Rugby Australia went searching for the first.
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Awarded in 1899, it belonged to Patrick Carew, was loaned to the Queanbeyan Sporting Hall of Fame and travelled to Townsville in a Coles cooler bag.
Three generations of the Carew family, as well as De Lutiis's parents, were in the sheds for his cap presentation.
"It hasn't sunk in yet, it was awesome in the sheds," he said.
"The history, seeing the first cap, puts it in context and with all the boys and the family here."
The 22-year-old prop had just completed a fairytale debut, scoring and generally impressing in a second-half stint as the hosts came from behind to steamroll Japan 56-17 in Townsville on Saturday.
The hulking forward, who owns a Queensland all-sports record 202.5kg bench press, threw a neat short ball that led to his own try. He hopped with delight after planting the five-pointer.
Barely a week ago he had been tanning at his mate's pool when new coach Les Kiss, who had mentored him at the Queensland Reds for the last three years, called to say he was on the next flight to Osaka as injury cover.
He got his head around the role while in Japan and trained strongly on return to earn a milestone debut.
"When it happened, Les called me and I was at the top of my friend's pool, just tanning," he said post-game.
"It shocked me, he tells me I'm coming over (to Osaka) tonight and I said I had to go right now and pack my bags.
"But it negated all the nerves and the boys didn't expect as much when I came in, they helped me out and that was a good transition.
"When I scored I didn't even know what to do. I think all the boys will give me a bit of grief."
Injuries have kept him to just 13 appearances for the Reds since his 2024 debut.
But his feats of strength put him on the map and, eligible for Italy and Ireland, resisted huge interest from the latter to recommit to Australian rugby earlier this year.
"The 200's (lifting record) impressive, but it's not rugby," he said.
"I've been working on getting around the park, all my skills, out the back passes, tip passes and being able to read the game."
De Lutiis said a pre-game read of retired Navy SEAL and motivational speaker David Goggins' memoir helped him properly reflect on the journey.
"He talks about diving into the cookie jar, thinking about all your past achievements and setbacks and that where you are today is because of everything you've done beforehand," he said.
