The coronavirus shut down all NRL contract talks, but Canberra Raiders young gun Nick Cotric wants to stay in lime green with extension talks resuming.
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Cotric's off contract at the end of the season, but is committed to staying in his native Canberra at the club where he made his NRL debut in 2017.
The 21-year-old is one of the Raiders' re-signing priorities, having locked in Raiders co-captain Jarrod Croker and Jack Wighton until the end of 2024 so far this year.
Cotric's management were in talks for an extension with the Raiders when COVID-19 put all contract talks on hold. He said he wanted to remain with the Green Machine.
"Definitely. I really like it here, it's my home town and we're in the process of doing all that now," Cotric said.
"It got a bit caught up there with the virus, we had those six weeks off. I'm just focusing on doing my job for the club and doing the best I can and trying to play good footy and do my best."
Cotric predicted ex-Raider Joey Leilua would "come out firing" in his first game against his old club since moving to Wests during the pre-season.
It was a sentiment shared by Raiders fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who will have a bigger role to play in trying to shut down Leilua.
Cotric and centre Curtis Scott, dubbed "Scottric", have taken over the Raiders' right edge, which used to be made up of Leilua and Jordan Rapana - or "Leipana".
Leilua will be fired up after he was disappointed with how his time in Canberra came to an end.
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"I'm expecting Joey to have a big game this weekend. Everyone's spoken about how good he'll be when we play him and the time's this weekend," Nicoll-Klokstad said.
"I know he'll be doing his best to get right for this match and I'm sure he'll play a good game.
"Any person that leaves a club has a point to prove. They'll want to let the club they went from know that they lost a gem.
"He's a great player so he'll be doing whatever he needs to do to get himself right for this weekend.
"For us it's just about worrying about what we can do, what we can control and that starts out here at training."
NRL ROUND FIVE
Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Stadium, 7.35pm. Live on Fox League.
Raiders team: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Bailey Simonsson 3. Jarrod Croker (C) 4. Curtis Scott 5. Nick Cotric 6. Jack Wighton 7. George Williams 8. Josh Papalii 9. Josh Hodgson (C) 10. Dunamis Lui 11. Joe Tapine 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Corey Horsburgh 14. Siliva Havili 15. Emre Guler 16. Sia Soliola 17. Jordan Rapana 18. Tom Starling 19. Matt Frawley 20. Ryan Sutton 21. Michael Oldfield.
Wests Tigers team: 1. Adam Doueihi 2. David Nofoaluma 3. Joey Leilua 4. Moses Mbye 5. Tommy Talau 6. Josh Reynolds 7. Luke Brooks 8. Josh Aloiai 9. Harry Grant 10. Zane Musgrove 11. Luciano Leilua 12. Chris Lawrence 13. Alex Twal 14. Thomas Mikaele 15. Russell Packer 16. Michael Chee-Kam 17. Alex Seyfarth 18. Benji Marshall 19. Luke Garner 20. Billy Walters 21. Corey Thompson.