In the lofty heights of New Zealand's greatest sporting colosseum - Eden Park - NZ Breakers coach Mody Maor meets a Kiwi sporting colossus.
As Maor rises from a table on an upper deck, he's greeted by a smiling face and firm handshake from All Blacks royalty - Sir Wayne 'Buck' Shelford.
"Tena Koe, Mody," boomed Sir Buck. "Pleased to meet you."
Picking the brains of his leadership idol, Sir Wayne has long been on the Breakers boss' bucket-list.
"I can be a little bit of a fan boy, it's fine," Maor sheepishly told Newshub, as he sat next to the former All Blacks captain. "He's earned it."
Maor read about Shelford in Sam Walker's The Captain Class - a book about world sport's great leaders - on the flight over to New Zealand four years ago, when he first relocated as an assistant coach under previous Breakers head coach Dan Shamir.
"Since then, I've kind of been infatuated," Maor explained.
"When I took over the head coaching job researching NZ sports, NZ history, the way things are done, player-led sports team, it kept circling back here and now I finally get to meet him.
"It's cool."
Maor believes the revolutionary player-led power structure of the All Blacks under Shelford is the most admirable part of the 22-test forward's leadership style.
"It’s something that's common to talk about now in basketball -the power that the players have," said Maor.
"But the All Blacks, for me, were the first team that I've ever learned that had a real leadership structure in place that was player led and player driven."
Sir Buck has noticed that structure in the Breakers. On Friday, they’ll tip-off their first Australian NBL finals series in seven seasons, completing a remarkable turnaround from the doldrums of the previous two years.
"Mody has them trying to find themselves as better leaders within the team," said Sir Wayne.
"Because we're all leaders at the same time. But it's whether we make the judgement calls at the same time together."
And yes, Maor's well aware of the infamous incident that saw Shelford suffer a torn scrotum playing for the All Blacks at Nantes.
Incidentally, Maor says he'd have no concerns, should his own captain Tom Abercrombie were to suffer such an injury.
"He's got three kids, he'll be fine," Maor laughed.
And before they look to end their championship drought, Shelford has some advice for Maor.
"As long as the guys are having fun, they should be up to it."
If you're going to listen to someone, it may as well be your hero.
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