Best mates since their days at South Dubbo Primary School, the pair have spent thousands of hours competing with and against each other.

But in the past couple of weeks, the conversation has changed.

Sure, there’s still talk of how their respective club sides Newtown and Rugby are going.

But now, they’re also talking dirty nappies and sleep (or lack thereof).

Amazingly, the lads who have been friends for more than 20 years became fathers within six days of each other.

Saturday marks the first time the 28-year-olds will take to the field as parents, assuming Skinner can overcome a knee injury.

His wife Sammi-Jo gave birth to a bouncing baby boy named Henry on October 4, while on October 10 Bennewith’s partner Esther Ling delivered a beautiful girl named Grace.

“You couldn’t plan it,” Skinner said.

“I still remember how we told each other. I picked ‘Benne’ up for indoor and when I dropped him home he said to me ‘I’ve got something to tell you’.

“Then he told me that him and Esther were having a baby and I was like ‘you’re kidding, I was going to tell you the same thing’.”

While the Skinners elected to keep the sex of their child a surprise, Bennewith said he and Esther were happy to know they were having a daughter.

But he also admitted that when Henry was born, he wasn’t overly shocked.

“We knew that we were having a girl but they didn’t want to know, although it didn’t surprise me when they had a boy,” Bennewith said with a laugh.

“Steve has a couple of boys and I reckon Tom will want some boys. They want to create a Skinner XI I think.

“It’s amazing to think that we’ve spent all these years going to school and playing cricket, and being mates, and then within the space of a week we both have such a big change to our lives.

“Everyone says your life changes so much when you become a parent, but until you actually go through it you don’t really realise.”