Adam Elliott says his honeymoon is over. It's time he started delivering for the Canberra Raiders.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The former Canterbury Bulldog also said he would worry about his contract a couple of months into the season.
Elliott's retained his spot on the Raiders bench to face the Melbourne Storm at Wagga Wagga on Saturday.
He's had a dual role of slotting either in at lock or in the second row and was happy to continue leading the double life rather than lock down either role.
But he did want to start delivering for the Green Machine, having come to Canberra with the mission of making them a better team.
His own form has mirrored that of the Raiders - up and down.
"It's a new role for me. It's something I haven't been doing for a couple of years now," Elliott said.
"I feel like I've been trying to find my feet the first month or so, but for me personally it's been long enough now and it's time to start playing some good footy.
"I'm really looking forward to hopefully opening that account this weekend."
MORE RAIDERS NEWS
Elliott only signed a one-year deal when he joined the Raiders and he's still off-contract at the end of the season.
But he wasn't worried about his future yet - preferring to find his form first.
"I said I wanted a few months to settle in and find my feet in the team before I started any negotiations," Elliott said.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has shown faith in the 17 that lost to the Manly Sea Eagles on the weekend, allowing them to make amends against the Storm.
But they have forward Ryan Sutton breathing down their necks, while there's also been calls for young gun Xavier Savage to come into the side - including from NSW coach Brad Fittler.
Raiders hooker Adrian Trevilyan would have been another pressing for a call-up, but he has a slight hamstring injury that kept him out last weekend.
He's expected to be back next week.
Elliott didn't look at it as needing to repay Stuart's faith with selection - rather it was about how he could be better for the team.
"We probably don't delve into it that deeply. It's something where you reflect after the game whether you were happy with your individual performance, happy with the team performance or not," he said.
"And you want to come out and correct that on the weekend if you don't think you've gone well enough.
"When you do play well you reflect and look at things you can be doing better anyway.
"I don't think you think too deeply about team selection, it's more about your individual performance and how you're working for the team."
Raiders co-captain Elliott Whitehead said they'd shown they could play well in patches, but they needed to start doing that for longer.
Errors have proven costly, with the Green Machine committing 13 against the Sea Eagles on the weekend - with 11 of those coming in the second half.
Whitehead said to fix it they needed individuals maintaining their focus under fatigue throughout the game.
"It's just individual focus. When that little bit of fatigue comes in those little errors start to creep in and it's something we really need to be better at," he said.
"Especially in the Manly game we were 10-6 down and there was 20 minutes to go, and a few errors started to creep in."
NRL ROUND FIVE
Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm at Wagga Wagga, 3pm.
Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Semi Valemei, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Brad Schneider, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Tom Starling, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Corey Harawira-Naera, 13. Elliott Whitehead (c). Interchange: 14. Matt Frawley, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Adam Elliott, 17. Corey Horsburgh. Reserves: 18. Xavier Savage, 19. Ryan Sutton, 20. James Schiller, 21. Harry Rushton, 22. Jarrod Croker, 23. Trey Mooney, 24. Peter Hola.
Storm squad: 1. Ryan Papenhuyzen, 2. Nick Meaney, 3. Reimis Smith, 4. Justin Olam, 5. Xavier Coates, 6. Cameron Munster, 7. Jahrome Hughes, 8. Jesse Bromwich, 9. Harry Grant, 10. Nelson Asofa-Solomona, 11. Felise Kaufusi, 12. Kenny Bromwich, 13. Josh King. Interchange: 14. Brandon Smith, 15. Alec MacDonald, 16. Trent Loiero, 17. Tepai Moeroa. Reserves: 18. Tyran Wishart, 19. Chris Lewis, 20. Marion Seve, 21. Jayden Nikorima, 22. Jordan Grant, 23. William Warbrick, 24. Sualauvi Faalogo.