Canberra Raiders prop Shannon Boyd concedes his form cost him a dream State of Origin berth, but he will use the missed opportunity as motivation for a clash against Manly on Sunday.
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The powerhouse front-rower showed glimpses of his best last weekend after being left out of the NSW side for the Origin opener on Wednesday night.
Boyd was expected to feature in selection contention after making his Australian debut last year and being picked to play in the Anzac Test earlier this month.
But he is still chasing his first NSW call up and is keen to force his way into selection calculations with a barnstorming month of NRL, starting at Manly this weekend.
A brutally honest Boyd said "my form wasn't good enough" over the past month to win his first Origin cap.
"You always want to play for NSW or Australia. Those are representative games are big things for players and watching the game is going to suck not being there," Boyd said.
"But my form wasn't good enough to be picked so I'm not worried about that at all. I'm just worried about playing good footy [for the Raiders] and hopefully they can get me in there one day.
"Coming into Origin and not being in good form, I knew I wasn't going to be there. I was mentally ready [to be left out].
"Now I'm starting to play a bit better footy and see how I go. Hopefully NSW get up [in game one] ... it's just unfortunate I wasn't playing great footy at the time."
The Raiders have made just one change to their team which beat the Sydney Roosters last weekend, with Queensland second-rower Josh Papalii expected to make a comeback if he gets through Origin unscathed.
Lock Luke Bateman has been ruled out with a thumb injury, but is only expected to miss one or two weeks.
Boyd hopes he can build on his return to form against the Roosters, where he made 34 tackles and ran 15 times for 140 metres.
It was a big jump from his 114 metres and 24 tackles the previous week and he was just one metre short of his season-best tally.
"I'd rather play good footy for the Raiders first and move on from there," Boyd said.
"I had a bit of a quiet patch for a couple of weeks and got down on myself, which didn't make things better.
"I'm starting to play some good footy now, get some more minutes and being a bit more effective as well.
"It was just injuries and having to battle through things was tough. But once you get through that you start to feel better, your spirits are up and it's just a lot easier to play footy."
Manly beat the Raiders with a golden-point penalty six weeks ago, with centre Dylan Walker igniting a sledging rivalry between the teams after he kicked the winning goal.
"I'm not too worried about last time. I think it's our time to get one back," Boyd said.
NRL ROUND 13
Sunday: Manly Sea Eagles v Canberra Raiders at Brookvale Oval, 2pm. TV time: Live on Fox Sports 2.
Raiders team: 1. Jack Wighton, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Blake Austin, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Junior Paulo, 9. Josh Hodgson , 10. Shannon Boyd, 11. Josh Papalii, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Sia Soliola. Interchange: 14. Adam Clydsdale, 15. Joe Tapine, 16. Clay Priest, 17. Dunamis Lui, 18. Scott Sorensen , 19. Royce Hunt, 20. Brent Naden, 21. Lachlan Croker.
Manly team: 1. Matt Wright, Jorge Taufua, 3. Dylan Walker, 4. Brian Kelly, 5. Akuila Uate, 6. Blake Green, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans, 8. Brenton Lawrence, 9. Apisai Koroisau, 10. Martin Taupau, 11. Frank Winterstein, 12. Curtis Sironen, 13. Jake Trbojevic. Interchange: 14. Lewis Brown, 15. Jackson Hastings, 16. Nate Myles, 17. Addin Fonua-Blake, 18. Jarrad Kennedy, 19. Cameron Cullen, 20. Jonathan Wright, 22. Lloyd Perrett.
