At the end of 2017, then-Broncos enforcer Adam Blair packed up his house and family and moved back across the ditch. He moved home.

He had been gone more than a decade, fulfilling his rugby league dream on the other side of the Tasman. His journey had taken him to Brisbane, Melbourne, Concord, and then Brisbane again.

His decision to leave home at the age of 16 was a tough one. Tougher than most people will ever know.

Blair lost his father, Willie, to a brain tumour. Adam was 12 years old at the time, and the eldest of eight kids.

So when Melbourne Storm came calling four years later and asked the teenager to move to Brisbane, it was with a heavy heart — but excitement — that he picked up his footy boots and left.

But he always knew he had to return. And when he married his partner, Jess, and had two sons, he knew he had to teach them the culture he had been taught as a boy.

So when the opportunity to play for the Warriors presented itself, the decision was easy.

“That’s part of the reason I’m in New Zealand, to get back in touch with it all and take my family there to introduce them to it, to understand the cultural side and who I am, who we are as people,” Blair told foxsports.com.au in All Stars camp in Melbourne.

“My wife is from Brisbane, my kids were born in Brisbane. When I had the opportunity, that was part of my thought process ... a way to show my family what New Zealand is like and show them the culture.

“(They are) loving it. My wife loves it, she’s even done some study. She’s doing some study at university as elective courses.

“It just makes you proud when you’ve got people around you that want to buy into it and have the same sort of passion as I do.”

It’s obvious just by speaking to him how passionate Blair is about his Maori culture.

He was one of the first players to his put his hand up and ask to be part of the first Maori All Stars team, due to take on the Indigenous All Stars at AAMI Park on Friday night.

And on Monday, coach Stacey Jones told Blair he would lead the Maori team out as captain. Blair says it’s one of the greatest honours he’s ever been offered in his career.

“(Jones) wasn’t telling me I had a choice to be captain, he just said ‘you’re my captain’. It’s a massive honour,” Blair said.

“This team being so close to my culture and my heritage, it’s one of the best things to have happened in a long time in my football career.

“My wife is pumped for me because she knows how much my culture means to me.”

Friday night will be the first time a Maori team has featured in the NRL All Stars concept.

The two teams got together in Melbourne on Monday for an official welcoming, led by local indigenous leaders.

Blair hopes to use the week to teach others about his Maori heritage, but also learn about Australia’s Aboriginal culture.

“I love it. We’re passionate, we’re exactly like the indigenous Australian boys, we would do anything for our culture,” he said.

“It’s awesome they have given us an opportunity to showcase our culture on the big stage. The boys won’t let anyone down.

“It’s an opportunity to go out there and do each other proud and do our culture proud.”