But new father Joey Leilua has "left last year behind" him as he focuses on making next season even better, with Kangaroos and NSW Blues jerseys squarely in his sights.

You couldn't wipe the smile off the 25-year-old's face as he reflected on the birth of his and fiancee Tiana's son Leonidas a month ago.

He admitted a younger Leilua might have rested on the laurels after his stunning season helped the Canberra Raiders end their 19-year preliminary final drought.

The centre's flick pass against Wests Tigers sent winger Jordan Rapana over for one of his club-record 23 tries for the season as Leilua finished second in the NRL for offloads.

So emphatically did they announce themselves that Rapana made his international debut for New Zealand and Leilua would probably have followed suit for Australia, but for a hamstring injury he suffered in the preliminary final loss to the Melbourne Storm.

They became known as "Leipana" for their closeness both off and on the field.

Leilua will play in the NRL All Stars game for the World All Stars in the lead-up to the season.

None of that matters now for Leilua, with the Raiders' round one clash against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville his only focus.

"I left last year behind. People say me and 'Rapa' had an amazing year and I said, 'Yeah we did'. But now it's a new year for me," he told Fairfax Media.

"It started when I came in for pre-season so I've forgotten what I did last year and I just want to focus on getting my body right again, getting back into shape, getting those [kilometres] in and getting ready for round one."

And the pain of that two-point loss to the Storm was driving both him and his teammates to go a couple of steps better in 2017.

He's using it as motivation during pre-season to get back in shape ahead of the Christmas break.

"We were one game short of the grand final, the big stage, it kind of hurt most of us in the team," Leilua said.

"I can see in the boys' eyes that they want to change it this year and you can see it in the intensity of training, every week, every day, and you can see that they really want to push themselves to the next level and that's a great thing for the club.

"Players want to get to the next stage of Blues jersey, of Kangaroos jersey. It's great for the club and great for the team."

Many thought Leilua should've made his State of Origin debut for the Blues this year, but coach Laurie Daley overlooked him.

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga had named him in the train-on squad for the Four Nations, but Leilua was ruled out due to his hamstring.

That's something he's determined to change next year and add to the eight Tests he's played for Samoa, where his parents are from.

But there was a silver lining to being overlooked for the Kangaroos — it allowed him to be home for the birth of his first son.

"I'd like to be playing for the Kangaroos, I wouldn't mind if I played this year even though I would've missed one game, but they needed the best fresh players out there," Leilua said.

"It kind of hurt that I didn't get to play, but at the same time I had my son in the off-season, which was a great thing for myself and my fiancee. Got to be happy with that."

Leilua was trying to "take life a bit slower" following the birth of this son, with time flying in the month since his birth.

His name was partly inspired by Leilua's brother — Luciano Leilua — who re-signed with St George Illawarra this week.

"My brother's name starts with L and she wanted something with 'nidas' in it so I said 'Leonidas'," Leilua said.

"It was a win-win for me [missing the Four Nations], just to see my son come out and a new experience and I loved every single moment of it.

"It's quite hard [being a dad], but you've got to enjoy it at the same time.

"I try to take life a bit slower now because little man's growing. I didn't even realise he was a month old and now you kind of take everything slowly now and enjoy the moments."