'I'm not happy at all': Canberra Raiders prop Josh Papalii vows to fire back to his NRL best

That's what you get from a State of Origin star, from a Canberra Raiders front-rower regarded as one of the finest props in the game.

But as for where that bar sits five rounds into the 2022 NRL season? "Pretty low, mate".

Papalii's average running metres are at their lowest point since 2015, though his season average of 108 comes from a small sample size of five games.

Now the 29-year-old is determined to bounce back with Raiders fans hoping it's just a matter of time before their beloved big man storms back to his best.

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"I hope it's this Thursday, bro," Papalii said ahead of a showdown with the North Queensland Cowboys at Canberra Stadium.

"It's frustrating for myself to go home and know that I didn't play well. As a professional athlete, I'm always raising the bar on my performances, especially being one of the oldest in the club as well.

"Being more experienced, I should be performing better. I know fans out there are disappointed at the moment but we're working on it.

"Hard to comment on my form at the moment. I've got this short turnaround to try and think about but I'm not happy at all.

"The running game is not there at the moment, with the new structure. We got a new attack coach again and we're playing a different style of footy. People aren't going to see the one-out runs and all that.

"It's hard to play the way you want to play if we're not building pressure, so the more we can hold onto the ball, the more good things people can see."

Jarrod Croker could be poised for an NRL recall to face the Cowboys after young centre Matt Timoko suffered a back injury last weekend. Xavier Savage and Seb Kris loom as other options pushing for recalls if Raiders coach Ricky Stuart is forced to make a change.

Stuart will name his side on Tuesday as the Raiders look to put a frustrating fortnight behind them on home soil.

"Obviously we've got to try and keep the ball off the ground, silly errors put us in bad positions," Papalii said.

"The more we give the ball over to the opposition, they're just applying too much pressure at the moment that we just can't hold out. We've just got to learn how to hold onto the ball and maybe cut out the 50-50 passes and we should give ourselves a good chance of building pressure and winning games."

NRL ROUND SIX

Thursday: Canberra Raiders v North Queensland Cowboys at Canberra Stadium, 7.50pm.

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