Emerging St George Illawarra forward Blake Lawrie has vowed he is ready to step into the Dragons starting lineup on Thursday night.
With NSW and Australian star Tyson Frizell likely out for 4-6 weeks after undergoing testicle surgery on Saturday night, Lawrie is the leading contender to fill the number 13 jersey for the clash with South Sydney.
He credits a conversation over coffee with James Graham at the conclusion of last season with helping prepare him for this moment.
While not willing to go into too much detail about the contents of the chat, the 22-year-old said Graham let him know exactly what needed to be done over the pre-season if he was to become a permanent fixture in the Dragons lineup.
"I went for a coffee with him at the end of last year," Lawrie said. "We had a personal conversation about where I'm at, he told me what I needed to work on in the preseason.
"I was excited to have the chat with him, I was excited for what the outcome was. Hopefully I've done the work over the pre-season on the advice he's given me to be a regular first grader and help the team to get a result each and every week."
A highly-touted Dapto junior, Lawrie has been forced to bide his time throughout the past two years, playing just 16 games for the Dragons since making his NRL debut in round 17 2017.
While many young stars can get frustrated having to spend so much time in NSW Cup, Lawrie views that time as key to his development.
"You could say I've had to be patient, but you could also say I had a couple of things to work on as an individual. I've gone back to NSW Cup over the last two seasons, sort of worked on my game and tried to improve my whole game.
"I'm looking to lock down a top 17 spot for the rest of this year, play every game, that's one of my goals for the rest of the season."
With the Dragons forward pack struck down by injury towards the back-end of last season, Lawrie was thrown into a key role in St George Illawarra's finals matches against the Broncos and Rabbitohs.
His showing at Suncorp Stadium against Brisbane was particularly impressive, with Lawrie helping the Dragons pack run rampant over the Broncos.
It was his performance in the two semi-finals, alongside his work on the training paddock, that has convinced his Dragons teammates he is capable of stepping up to the starting lineup, if given the chance by coach Paul McGregor.
"Blake is probably the best young forward we have here in the club," Paul Vaughan said. "Coming through, he's played all the junior reps, Junior 'Roos, NSW, he's a great trainer, big engine and a pretty tough front rower.
"He probably played the two best games I've seen him play in the finals last year, he had big shoes to fill and he stepped up and played really well.
"I think he's got a lot of confidence out of that and he'll be relishing the opportunity to get a start or have a bigger workload and show everyone what he can do."
