HE'S coming off the toughest season of his NRL career but Dragons centre Euan Aitken hasn't forgotten how to play footy.
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The rest of the Dragons backline hasn't either despite many pointing to it as the club's achilles heel as it looks to bounce back from a 15-placed finish in 2019. Aitken and centre partner Tim Lafai have been a constant target for criticism, with the pair off contract this season and sitting at a career-crossroad.
It's hard to fathom for Aitken, who was being pencilled in for a NSW jumper just a season before - making the great Greg Inglis look like he was tied to a post for a memorable try in what was an 8-1 start to year for his side.
People forget quickly. Aitken certainly doesn't, but he's not shying away from the fact he was below his best in a tumultuous 2019 for the club.
"It was frustrating," he said.
"I felt like I had a lot more to offer I just probably wasn't getting as many opportunities that I was used to the previous year. Centre's sometimes a a position where, if the team's not performing that well, you don't get a lot of opportunities.
"When the team's losing people have to [direct] criticism somewhere. That's the unfortunate thing, sometimes centres get put in pressure positions where they might make a bad read or something like that.
"When you're put under a lot of pressure sometimes the cracks show and our defence got tested a fair bit last year because of that. I think it's just about getting back to performing as a team and, off the back of that, I can perform any time.
"I've played footy my whole life and it's not something you lose. I've always got that strong self-belief that I can play great footy and that's what I'm striving to do, strive for greatness.
"I'm just going to have to re-find my role a bit in the team but I think now we're working our combinations and we've got a set spine. I think we're building good things and I'm pretty happy with how we're sitting at the moment."
Coach Paul McGregor admitted last season that getting the right balance in his back five was his biggest coaching headache, but he's sought to bring come certainty to that area this preseason, anointing young-gun Zac Lomax as first-choice No. 1.
Rookie Jasonn Saab is also likely to come onto one wing, while Aitken and Lafai will feel the heat of new recruit Brayden Williame at their feet. New assistant coach Shane Flanagan has already set about bring some defensive steel out wide and Aitken is confident it can be an elite backline.
"The attack will come," he said.
"We've shown it before, it wasn't that long ago we were playing good attacking footy and scoring a lot of points. I think what happened last year is we weren't putting ourselves in a position to play. We had the least amount of play-the-balls in the opposition 20.
"All the back line can do [then] is try and get us out of trouble. It's a team thing and we've just got to hold the ball and produce in defence and we'll turn that around.
"There's good influences with Flanno there changing up our defensive structures. I think we've got the players to attack and be successful in attack but sometimes you need to build your team around defence.
"We want to have that arrogant mindset that we're going to be a strong defensive team and try and rag-doll people and some bum rush stuff as well. If we get that right, we've definitely got the attacking potency to be a good backline and a really strong one."
One thing he's certain won't derail him is contract talk despite reports the club was shopping him around at the end of last season. He insists he's unfazed by that chat but would like to remain at the club he's played 104 games for since debuting as a teenager in 2015.
"I'm not sure if there was anything to it, maybe there was, maybe there wasn't," Aitken said.
"I don't really pay too much attention, my manager [Steve Gillis] sorts all that stuff out. He might hear things but if its not worth following that lead he won't follow it. I just sit there and let him do his job and he comes to me when there's something important. I just worry about doing my job for the team.
"I love Wollongong, the people down here and the community. I've been here for quite a number of years and have a lot of friends here. I just want to keep pushing for my spot and cement it and get a good new contract as well.
"[Contract talk] has a little bit of an effect but at the same time I just want to do what I can do and what I'm capable of. At the end of the day, if I leave it all out there and things don't fall my way I'm OK with that.
"I won't have any regrets and that's my whole mindset. I've had a great preseason, I'm feeling strong, fit and fast so I'm just ready to leave it all out there."