He had the opportunity to play alongside his heroes in the Indigenous All-Stars match in February, he made his NRL debut for the Dragons in March and saw his form in both the NRL and Canterbury Cup improve considerably.

But the St George Illawarra Dragons were awful.

That makes it tough for Kerr to look back fondly on the season, with his individual achievements slightly overshadowed by the team's disappointing performance.

"There's two different sides to it," Kerr said. "For myself, I couldn't believe it. It was a dream come true. I sat in front of the TV as a kid watching NRL, so to be able to be on TV playing and for my family to hear Ray Warren say my name, that was a big thing for me and my family.

"On the field, as a team, it wasn't the greatest year. It would've been awesome to come into the side and debut for a side that was coming first, but we just needed to make changes at the end of the year and I was very lucky to be given an opportunity.

"Towards the back end when I was playing more I was getting more confident. That's when I started to come out of my shell in first grade a bit more. Last season was a very good foot forward to where I want to be."

After making his NRL debut in round two, Kerr played a further six first grade games throughout the season, including four of the last seven.

Read more: 'There's a cultural issue at the top of Group Seven': Longbottom

While he was happy to bide his time throughout 2019, the 23-year-old is determined to win a place in the 17 for the Dragons round one clash with the Tigers.

Once he achieves that goal, Kerr's aim is to ensure he stays in the team for the duration of the season.

"At the end of the season I sat down with Mary and we spoke about what we wanted as a goal, one of mine was I would love to play round one.

"Playing NRL is a privilege, with the squad we've got, it's still going to be very tough to get that spot, but I'd love to play round one and try to play every single game throughout the season.

"Mary even said, 'I'd love for you to be a starting front rower. If you keep progressing the way you are and improving and doing the little things right, you'll get there.'

"I was doing very well in NSW Cup and I want to play more first grade and get more confidence."

Kerr received a shock to the system when the pre-season kicked off this week, with the squad put through a gruelling fitness session on Tuesday.

Overseeing the workout were Nathan Pickworth and Adrian Jimenez, a man who spent 11 years ensuring the Melbourne Storm were among the fittest teams in the competition.

Kerr was in the Storm system prior to his move to Wollongong and while his time at the club did not overlap with Jimenez, the horror stories he heard from his teammates have him prepared for a very long summer.

"Luckily I came to the Storm the year after he was there and I heard some stories about it. I'll tell you right now, they're all true already.

"He is tough, but he's been in systems that are very successful systems and they (the Dragons) have obviously seen that and wanted to bring him in and you can tell why.

"It's hard, very hard, but you know it's the best thing for you. It's the old saying, the harder your pre-season, the better your season is."

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