Improving North Queensland NRL forward James Tamou can continue building his case for New Zealand Test selection against a rugged Paul Gallen-led Cronulla pack this weekend.

A massive fan of Gallen's play, Tamou has been making a few statements of his own in recent weeks which would have grabbed the attention of New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney who's assembling his squad for the end-of-year Four Nations.

Another big game by the 22-year-old against Gallen and heavyweight Sharks props Luke Douglas and Kade Snowden, on top of some recent eye-catching performances, would work in his favour.

His 16 hit ups for 159 metres along with 30 tackles and eight tackle busts against South Sydney last weekend was the best output by any prop of the round.

Only experienced Rooster Jason Ryles (175 metres) made more ground up the middle than Tamou.

Coming off the back of his 181-metre (18 hit ups) and 27-tackle effort against the Bulldogs a few weeks earlier, the 194cm, 113kg Tamou is starting to mature into his role.

He's also introducing aggression, something he loves about Gallen's game.

"He's one of my favourite players to watch at the moment," enthused Tamou.

"There's just no stopping him.

"He just keeps coming. It's quite inspirational to watch what he wants to do for his team and how he plays for his team.

"When I watch him, I know that's what I want to be like.

"You can tell everyone on the Sharks team looks up to him and he doesn't take a step back."

While Tamou was full of admiration for Gallen, he's been learning his craft from fellow front-rower Matt Scott, arguably the best No.8 in the world.

"He's the tip of the spear," Tamou said. "He just goes forward and wants to lead from the front which is what he's doing.

"When he's in the side, it takes a bit of pressure off because I know he's there beside me.

"It just feels a bit better with him beside me."

The lure of playing his first finals campaign has led to Tamou lifting his game another notch.

"It's a big thing for me to play finals footy," said Tamou, who would probably be a fireman if he wasn't packing into scrums.

"I've said ever since I made my debut (2009), it would be awesome to play finals footy.

"This year will be special for me and make up for the bad times."

Tamou recently played his 50th first grade game but it was lost in the hype of Brisbane captain Darren Lockyer's record-breaking 350th at Dairy Farmers Stadium two weeks ago.

"It would be awesome to see (a home final crowd)," he said.

"That game against the Broncos (Lockyer's 350th) just blew me away.

"If we could get a home semi-final, it could be like that again."

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