Jason Ryles knows he'll miss the place but right now he wants to avoid getting too sentimental.
The hulking St George Illawarra prop will run onto WIN Stadium for the final time tomorrow when he leads the Dragons into battle against the Warriors.
It will be end of a decorated, and at times controversial, NRL career stretching back to his debut off the bench in the joint venture club's second season.
Ryles has been through triumph and heartache - representing NSW and Australia, to crashing out in successive preliminary finals and being involved in verbal altercations with passionate fans.
He will soon leave all that behind when he sets sail for France to play in the Super League for Les Catalans.
"There's two things I'll miss when I leave," Ryles said.
"My mates and Wollongong.
"The thing I'm going to miss most about playing with the Dragons is playing at WIN Stadium.
"It's the area where I grew up and I'm sure it'll be something I'll look back on with some great memories.
"But I'm not really thinking about it too much at the moment, it won't sort of hit home until after the season's finished."
After just a handful of games as a replacement player for the Dragons, Ryles played his first match at WIN Stadium against the Broncos on July 16, 2000.
It was the day Wendell Sailor - at the peak of his powers - and the Broncos terrorised the young Dragons in a 44-14 drubbing.
"I remember there was Ben Hornby, myself and Luke Bailey, it was one of our first games," Ryles said.
"That Broncos team would have been worth about $6 million under today's salary cap.
"Here I was, a young guy used to watching these guys on TV, and now we were getting a lesson from them."
Like few other players in the NRL, Ryles has managed to polarise opinion from Dragons fans and rivals alike.
This year alone Ryles was the scapegoat for the Dragons' woeful first round effort and dumped to the bench.
He was part of a failed mid-season deal to swap clubs with Sharks half Brett Kimmorley and hit out at the politics involved in representative selection and why he missed out.
Ryles was involved in a verbal altercation with a fan at ANZ Stadium.
And who could forget his bizarre send-off at Olympic Park after an enthusiastic game of footsies in a scrum with Melbourne prop Jeff Lima.
With two years still to run on his Dragons contract, incoming coach Wayne Bennett decided Ryles' time was up, leaving the 29-year-old to come to terms with moving away from Wollongong for the first time in his life.
But for his part, Ryles has no regrets. The Berkeley and Wests junior just wants to make every post a winner on his last lap in the NRL.
Because this is the last chance he, team-mate Mark Gasnier and coach Nathan Brown have to win a title with the Red V.
"I'm sort of one of the luckier guys that I've been able to stay in my home town to play," he said.
"But at this stage of my career, I'm very excited about France and a new challenge.
"It's going to be massive the next three games.
"And while everyone wants to play finals, you'd prefer not to play Melbourne or Manly in the first week."
So with his sights sets on the Dragons finishing at least sixth and possibly as high as fourth, Ryles won't be looking over his shoulder to savour the moment of his last game at WIN Stadium.
Because he still has unfinished business.
"I think it's like anything in life," Ryles said.
"You take things for granted until they're taken away from you. So I'll be just going out there and giving it my all."
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