The prospect of being asked to knock lumps out of his Parramatta team-mates next month draws an enthusiastic response from Warriors loan player Daniel Alvaro.
That’s on the proviso the prop hasn’t already returned to the Eels, in what is fast turning out to be a year in which only the brave, or foolish, will dare predict what happens next.
Late last month George Jennings and Alvaro left the Eels to join the Warriors on a four-week deal after four players elected to return to New Zealand.
Had Alvaro, 27, been advised during pre-season he would represent the Warriors later in the year he would have been justified to ask the person who delivered the message if he had sunstroke.
Alvaro has now made two appearances for the Warriors, coming off the bench in the victories over Manly and Wests Tigers, and if asked to stay beyond the initial four-week period he says he would be happy to oblige.
“I am enjoying my time here, and just really enjoying playing some footy,’’ Alvaro says. “Yeah, I would like to stay but I will support whatever decision Parra and the Warriors make. It is all good from my end.’’
Which means having to take up the friend-turned-foe role if he’s still with the Warriors when they face the Eels on September 6.
“I would like to play,’’ he confirms. “I just like playing footy. It doesn’t bother me, who I am playing for. It is sort of up to Parra and the Warriors, I guess, if that will be the case.
“Yeah, it would be good. It would be a great challenge too. They (the Eels) have been going really well this year, they have been powering along. They would be a good team to play, I suppose.’’
Logging just seven minutes during the win over the Raiders had been his lot for 2020 until the switch to the Warriors, who are currently placed 11th.
What is clear is this: Alvaro, who made his debut for the Eels in 2015 and since played 88 first-grade matches for the club, wants to be getting game time. And if that is with the Warriors, then so be it.
Despite the Eels being placed third, on 22 points, Alvaro says he has easily adjusted to being in camp with the New Zealand side which had to relocate to Australia after the competition restarted.
The quick transition to the new environment doesn’t mean the bizarre turn of events hasn’t been lost on him, however.
“I was actually talking to George Jennings about this, we are rooming together. We were just sort of pinching ourselves last week. It just seems so surreal that we could go from one week, being at Parra and … playing footy for a totally different team.
“It’s these strange circumstances. It will be a good story one day, I think.
“We are just trying to make the best of it now and enjoy it. Which we are. Yeah, it’s quite good.’’
