St George Illawarra winger Jordan Pereira is determined to repay the faith the club has shown in him after he extended his stay in Wollongong until 2021.
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After re-signing with the Dragons for the 2019 and 2020 seasons last September, the 25-year-old has agreed to a one-year extension after impressing throughout the pre-season.
With Jason Nightingale retiring and Nene Macdonald departing for the Cowboys, the Dragons have two positions on the wing open for the taking this season and Pereira is determined to ensure that he locks down one of those two slots.
"That's the goal that I came into preseason with," Pereira said. "That's the mentality that I've come to adopt, it's my jersey and I don't want to give it to anyone else. I want to work as hard as I possibly can to ensure that I cement that jersey.
"Hopefully I've done that, but obviously it's a performance-driven industry and I have to perform where it counts and that's on game day. I can't just train hard, train like Tarzan, play like Jane, so I've got to perform on the day and hopefully lock down a spot for not just this season but next season."
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After arriving at the Dragons in mid-2017, Pereira has rapidly developed from a virtual unknown to a starter.
"I was on the bottom of the hierarchy last year, where I’m at now is definitely an improvement to where I was. We have some of the best coaching staff in the comp, just to make things like this possible. Ben Hornby’s been massively influential in upskilling my one-percenters, making sure I’m doing all the little things right."
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