Wade Park is a world away from Boston's TD Arena, in more ways than one.
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But it's where former Orange Hawks player Jace Delaney has called home for the past few years, working for the Celtics as their director of sports science and athletic development.
His role at one of the world's most iconic sporting franchises comes into an even sharper focus on Friday (June 7) when the Celtics face off against Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals.
Delaney told the Central Western Daily he still had to "pinch himself" when he reflected on his journey.
"The Celtics is an amazing organisation to work for," he said.
"The team is one of the most successful NBA teams in history, and in the five years I have been with them we have been to the finals twice, and the Eastern Conference finals twice.
"Despite the on-court success, our playing group is extremely down to earth and great to be around.
"Organisation wide the Celtics are made up of great people. Sometimes I definitely have to pinch myself that I am where I am."
Delaney played his junior rugby league with Bloomfield Tigers before graduating to Hawks under 18s and first grade Group 10.
He then moved to work for the Newcastle Knights, playing in the local league with Central Newcastle Butcher Boys, and even getting a dream one-off appearance for his beloved Knights in NSW Cup.
"To say I played NSW Cup is a bit of a stretch," he said,
"While I was working with the Knights I used to sometimes do the pre-season with the NSW cup team part time, because I had a good relationship with a few of the coaches there like Rick Stone and Matt Lantry but never was on the roster.
"However, one day the NSW Cup team was struggling with injuries right before the June 30 deadline, and Lantry had coached me at Central in previous years.
"He asked if I could fill in, so I played one NSW Cup game, which I loved being a Knights fan my whole life."
After spying a job advertisement for University of Oregon, Delaney decided to go for it and soon found himself stateside as the Ducks' director of performance and sports science.
Two years later in 2019 he followed a former Knights colleague to the east coast and has remained in Boston every since.
Delaney said he was relishing the experience of living and working in such a sports-mad city and couldn't wait for the seven-game series to tip off on Friday (AEST).
"Boston historically has been spoiled for sporting success, between the Celtics, Bruins (hockey), Red Sox (baseball) and Patriots (football)," he said.
"During this time of the year the city is definitely buzzing with high hopes of a ring.
"The NBA is the best competition in the world, so winning doesn't come easy, but we have had a great year thus far.
"Personally, I can't wait for the games to start this week - the sound of the fans inside TD Garden is ridiculous."