On the first day of pre-season in October, forgotten Canberra Raiders prop Mark Nicholls walked into the office of coach Ricky Stuart and asked what he needed to do to return to the NRL team.
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A former Junior Australian Kangaroos representative, Nicholls was Raiders rookie of the year in his debut 2012 season, playing 12 games straight, including two NRL finals.
A badly broken arm soured 2013, then last year, despite making the NSW Residents representative team, Nicholls didn't get a look in. Next month , it will be two years since the last of his 14 NRL games.
So the 25-year-old approached the coach, not demanding answers or selection, but seeking advice.
"Being a tall front rower he wanted me to get bigger in the upper body because he wanted a bit more impact at the line," Nicholls said. "He said my work rate's good, he just wanted to get that bit of extra aggression that comes from being bigger. That's what I've tried to focus on in the training paddock, trying to rip into a few of the bigger boys ... to show I can physically match it with them."
It's fitting that Nicholls will try to get his NRL career back on track starting with this Saturday's trial against the Melbourne Storm in Griffith, neighbouring his hometown Leeton where several generations of his family own a weighbridge company.
On Thursday Nicholls underwent a body composition scan, showing he's added four kilograms of lean muscle to his 105kg frame.
Off-contract at the end of the season, Nicholls has also deferred a master's degree in sport science and management this year to give himself every chance of reviving his NRL ambition.
"Being off contract this year I wanted to really focus on my footy, not knowing what's going to happen at the end of it. If this is going to be my last year of footy, I want to know that I gave it my best," he said.
"Sticky's an approachable and honest coach, but that means you've also got to be prepared to listen to things you might not want to hear. So I walked into his office the first day of pre-season and said, 'Look, I need to know where I'm at and what I need to do to play NRL', because obviously I was disappointed with the year I had [in 2013].
"I guess it feels like I need to debut again. I'm at that stage where you're just trying to rip into everything, like a young kid coming up from 20s that needs to prove myself against the guys that are there now and established.
"I just want to play NRL again. You get a taste for it and to not play for 18 months has been a bit frustrating and disappointing, but that's just added to the motivation to get back there and be a better player than I was two years ago."
The competition for prop places is probably tougher than two years ago. David Shillington, Paul Vaughan and Dane Tilse are established in the rotation, giant 22-year-old prop Shannon Boyd emerged last year, while the Raiders have added Roosters premiership winner Frank-Paul Nu'uausala and Queensland Cup player of the year Luke Page.
Nicholls has been taking mentoring notes from former Australian Kangaroos prop Brett White, who retired from the Raiders last year and has taken on roles with wrestling and defence.
"Sticky's made it obvious he wants his forwards to be aggressive in the middle it's something that doesn't come naturally to me, that's an area I've tried to improve," Nicholls said. "Whitey's helped me in that area, reminded me to be aggressive in drills, that this is my opportunity to rip in.
"He's done it all in the game and was a frontrower a lot of blokes didn't want to play against, he's very good at the wrestle and the aggressive side of his footy."
The Raiders will take a second-string squad of 23 to Griffith, with Stuart aiming to field a near full-strength team for the final trial against Newcastle at Queanbeyan's Seiffert Oval on February 21.
"For a lot of guys that are 50-50, this week's very important. If you have a strong game this weekend, you push your case for the Knights trial," Nicholls said.
