His former New Zealand Warriors teammates have been mightily impressed watching from afar but they aren’t so keen on taking on Isaiah Papali’i this weekend at Magic Round in Brisbane.

Papali’i has been one of the form forwards in the competition since joining the Parramatta Eels this season.

“It’s sad to see players go, especially the ones who have come up through the Warriors’ system,” Warriors half Chanel Harris-Tavita said in the lead-up to Sunday’s clash.

“But it just gives him an opportunity to play first grade and I’m happy for him.

“It’s a bit weird… footy. One day you’re playing alongside someone [and then] another day you could be playing against them. Once it comes to kick-off there’s no friends on the field. You’ve got to do what you can to get the result and you catch up and laugh about it afterwards. But during the 80 minutes you’re trying to get the best result for your team.”

Papali’i sits in the top 10 of the NRL for tackle breaks on 39, top 20 for completed tackles and already has five tries for the season – of all the forwards in the NRL only Viliame Kikau and David Fifita sit in front of him.