Canterbury centre Tim Lafai has six games to impress incoming coach Trent Barrett and earn himself a new contract beyond the 2020 season.
Lafai returned to the Bulldogs from St. George Illawarra in July and has performed well in his three matches since.
Despite this, he has yet to have heard from Barrett, but Lafai says that the silence will do nothing but motivate him.
โIt makes me want to work harder and dig a little deeper to get some good footy going,โ Lafai told news.com.au
Lafai's preference is to stay at Canterbury, where he previously played 74 games between 2011 and 2015, but is open to offers from rival NRL clubs.
โIโve been here before and Iโve settled in pretty comfortably โ myself and my family,โ he said.
โThese next six weeks are a good opportunity for myself and a few other boys to show, not only Trent, but other clubs out there what we have and what we can provide for them into the future.โ
โFor myself, it is all about putting my head down and working hard every week to try and finish this season on a high note.โ
As he prepares to make his #NRL return, Tim Lafai reveals his emotional story. Read the interview with @MCarayannis https://t.co/DP7WRItHrP pic.twitter.com/yNmR1zcaJz
— Telegraph Sport (@telegraph_sport) August 2, 2020
Canterbury have only won one match from their past 10 outings, the most recent being a thrilling one-point loss to Wests Tigers.
But Lafai denies that the Bulldogs couldnโt close out that game because of their track record over the past couple of months.
โYou can see in the past four weeks that the boysโ effort has been there,โ he said.
โThe boys still know how to win. We donโt go into the game preparing to lose.โ
The Bulldogs sit at the bottom of the NRL Ladder, a game behind both the Cowboys and the Broncos and are looking to avoid their sixth wooden spoon since 1935.
โIโd like to think that (the spoon) is at the back of our minds,โ he said.
โIf we can finish off strong to avoid that wooden spoon โ that is our aim for this club.โ
