It was a story which began in much less happier circumstances than the Bathurst rugby league now finds himself in – World War II.

Siejka’s grandfather lived in Poland when war broke out, was forced from his homeland and when, six years later, the fighting stopped he no longer desired to reside anywhere near a battle field.

“My Dad's dad was Polish. When the war broke out they took over my Pop's farm, I think he was about 16 or 17 at the time and he got shipped off to Germany,” Siejka said.

“While the war was going on his house got burnt down. When the war finished they gave him the option to stay in Poland, go to Germany, England or he could come to Australia.

“He said he just wanted to get as far away from there as he could, so he decided to come to Australia.

“We still have relatives over there. My brother Liam, who is also going to play with me in the Poland games, he went over there in the last couple of months. He and my Dad went to our Pop’s farm and where he was born and stuff like that.

“They loved it and said it was a really good experience. I think it’s like anything - when it’s heritage and your family, you’re pretty proud of where you come from.”

Though his grandfather was happy to have left Poland, Siejka is proud of his heritage.

So while the now 26-year-old has been happy to wear the colours of teams such as the Penrith Panthers, Wakefield Wildcats and Bradford Bulls, the Polish jumper he will don in the Emerging Nations World Championship will carry special significance.

The playmaker had long wanted to represent Poland and to do so on his home soil – the tournament will be staged in Sydney – alongside his brother Liam will be a special moment in his league career.

“It’s always something I wanted to do. Even when I first came to Penrith and met our coach Lee Addison and he said he was Polish and trying to get something off the ground, I was interested,” Siejka said.

“It has been a long time coming, but now that it’s happened I’m stoked to get the opportunity to play before I’m done.

“It will be awesome and I can’t wait to play. Hopefully we go good, it will be fun having a run around with my brother as well.”

The tournament features nations where the sport of rugby league is still developing and were not represented in the recent Rugby League World Cup. In Poland’s case, they formed their first competition in 2011 and first national team three years ago.

It will feature 11 nations and four Regional Confederation teams taking part in 30 matches over two weeks at at Cabramatta, St Mary’s and Windsor.

Poland has been been drawn in pool C alongside Hong Kong, Japan, the Solomon Islands and Turkey, with their first game set for October 4. Siejka hopes they can progress beyond that stage and make the October 13 decider.

“I think we will do okay and I’m really excited for it,” he said.

And give he initially planned to sit out the season, it is little wonder Siejka’s excited. 

“This will be our first ranked Test match, so we basically come into the comp with no rankings,” he said.

“There was only sort of one game against Chile which was played before and that was only a knock around game. So this competition will be the first ranked one we’ve ever played in.

“After it we’ll have a ranking and sort of be able to play for the next year, we’re set up financially for the next year.

“Hopefully it means we’ll get a fair few games over the next year.”

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Playing regular games had not been on Siejka’s agenda for a time this year after his wife gave birth. But his plans changed and he ended up representing Dapto in the Ilawarra League first grade competition.

He ended up scoring 84 points for the season as Dapto made it as far as the preliminary final.

“I started up at Burleigh in the Q Cup, but with the baby it was a bit much for ourselves up there, so I moved back,” Siejka said.

“I was going to have a year off, but I had a couple of mates at Dapto and went down  there for the season.

“It was really fun, I'm happy I went down there. It’s obviously a bit different to what I’m used to, like you train two nights a week and it’s not that serious, but I think that’s good, my body feels real fresh.

“It’s probably the first time in a long time that I’ve felt good at the end of the year.”

Though the standard was a step down from what he was used to, Siejka still played alongside and against some quality footballers.

“The top four teams are really good and then the bottom four are a little bit behind. But I think the top four would go pretty good in like the Ron Massey in Sydney,” he said.

“Jeff Robson was in our team and Glen Stewart played for Wests, there’s a heap of old first graders running around in the comp.”

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The Polish team which Siejka will now play for has quality within its ranks as well and he is hoping it will served them well.

Though setting no big expectations for himself or the team, naturally Siejka would love to progress beyond the pool stage.

“I’ll be happy to just get a jersey, I’ll play anywhere the coach needs me to, I’d say I’ll play at seven where I've played most of my career,” he said.

“It has surprised me how many decent players we’ve got in the squad. There’s players that have come from the Newcastle comp that are pretty handy footballers and I think we should go pretty good.

“Our main goal is just to finish as high as we can, win all our pool games and see how we go from there. I think it’s doable, some of the teams in there we played them at the nines and beat them there.”

In any case, Siejka feels the tournament will be an ideal way to showcase the talent of the Polish team and the rest the emerging nations taking part.

“It’s interesting, teams that you would never think would played rugby league are in the comp - Poland probably included,” he said. 

“There’s a fair few ex-NRL players and young under 20s players playing, so it should be a decent comp.

“I think there's only been two other times this comp has been played and I think both times teams like Scotland and Lebanon and Ireland, teams that are in the World Cup now, have played in it. It's a good starting ground.”

The tournament kicks-off on Monday.