Canberra Raiders forward JJ Collins yearning for another NRL shot

Because the Canberra Raiders forward has effectively been forced into a second pre-season training schedule with the NRL suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Collins is a part of a wave of youngsters looking to establish themselves in the top grade with Corey Horsburgh leading the pack.

Marching behind him is Hudson Young, Emre Guler, Jack Murchie, and of course Collins, who is yearning for another chance to link up with his Raiders teammates on the training paddock.

Canberra boast a world class pack for these youngsters to learn from, featuring Test veterans like Josh Papalii, Elliott Whitehead, John Bateman and Josh Hodgson.

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Now it is just a matter of waiting for the tick of approval to return to training as the NRL targets a return on May 28 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"It really helps learning from world class players. We've got Paps, Smell, Hodgo is one of the best hookers in the game," Collins said at the club's pre-season open media session.

"Training with them, it makes you train better and you just carry that training mentality into the game. By the time the weekend comes around, you feel like you're performing well just because of training.

"You know what they're capable of so you've got to meet that standard. It's good we do that, because we don't want them to drop down to us. We want us to meet their standards.

"Whenever the opportunity does present itself again, we want to be ready to go. We don't want to be off the eight ball, we want to be hitting the ground running.

"That does motivate us."

Motivation at Raiders headquarters isn't exactly hard to come by these days.

For months they had stewed on a grand final defeat before those demons were put to bed during a pre-season camp on the Sunshine Coast.

They shot out of the blocks to record two wins from their opening two games of the season before the competition stopped.

Collins has been watching on through it all, determined to earn another shot at the big time.

"To see the boys run out for the grand final was pretty good. To see the Viking clap too, that was unreal, just to see all of those people in the stands," Collins said.

"It just motivates you to be out there on the field with the boys. It definitely does [fuel the fire]. While you're supporting the boys, you definitely want to get out onto the field.

"You've just got to do the time in NSW Cup and train hard, and hopefully the opportunity presents itself.

"I feel like I'm ready to go. In saying that, it's up to Stick [Ricky Stuart] and all the other coaching staff. They train us this hard to get us prepared for first grade, so when the opportunity comes we don't let it slip."