Still doing the business: Anthony Minichiello. Credit:Getty Images Through the pain and adversity, they only grew stronger. The odds were stacked against them – a series of debilitating injuries throughout their respective careers threatened to jeopardise their playing future. They shouldn't be here – but after 19 Tests for Australia, 19 Origin appearances for NSW and four premierships between them – they are here. And at Brookvale Oval on Friday night, two of the best fullbacks of the modern era may cross paths for the last time as the curtain closes on the career of the Roosters captain 15 years after making his first-grade debut at the same club.

"When I started coming through into first grade, Mini was the in-form fullback and a lot of the up-and-coming fullbacks were basing their game around the way he played," Stewart said. "He'll be remembered as relentless. He's the ultimate competitor and has got that never-say-die attitude. To watch him play when I was coming into first grade was a pleasure. He's probably had one of the most longest stints at fullback. "The generations have changed a bit but he's adapted his game to the fullback role as the generations changed and will be remembered as one of the best. Speed was a big part of my game when I first came into grade. Then two serious knee injuries slowed me up a little bit. I just had to change my focus to the ball in the hand and my catch and pass, which didn't come natural to me when I first came into first grade. I think you become smarter and you try and think ahead a bit more because you have to and that's what Mini has done."

The magnitude of their injury woes is highlighted in the fact that in a four-year period between 2007 and 2011, Stewart and Minichiello never squared off. Stewart, 29, who has been dogged by knee injuries throughout his career, leads the head-to-head battles with six wins from the nine matches they've taken the field on opposite teams.

The Manly fullback also leads in the try scoring stakes with five tries to two against Minichiello, who endured a horrible run with a chronic back injury in the middle of his career. But it's the 34-year-old Minichiello who holds bragging rights after he led his Roosters to premiership glory at the expense of Stewart's Sea Eagles last year in what was the first time the pair has locked horns in finals football. "I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Mini, especially with the serious injuries he's had with his back," Stewart said. "He sat out basically 2½ years of football but came back bigger and better. It's something that I can relate to, having my own issues with injury. He's an important part of that side and leads from the front. "I don't know too much about it but from what I heard the surgeons told him he wouldn't play again. For anyone to come back from that is a testament to themselves."