Moses Mbye may be Canterbury's interim ''Mr Fix It" but the young half has his sights firmly set on snatching Josh Reynolds' No.6 jersey.
Mbye's form has already led to Reynolds spending time on the interchange bench as he made his way back from injury. Only injuries to centres Tim Lafai and Josh Morris meant Mbye has been forced to shift to the outside backs with Reynolds reclaiming his spot to partner Trent Hodkinson in the halves.
While Mbye who is contracted to the Bulldogs until the end of next year - insists there is no bad blood between the pair, he wants Reynolds' spot.
"It's definitely a challenge," Mbye said. "I'm willing to do it if I get an opportunity. He's a great player, he's the incumbent NSW six, that's a pretty big banner. To do that is definitely difficult but I guess anything's possible. My long-term goal is to be a starting five-eighth at this club. That's the goal. [Reynolds is] one of my best mates at this club, we always joke around about it. We'll just have to wait and see. It's hard to say what's going to happen. Footy careers change overnight nowadays. Anyone can be anywhere, especially now. It's a halves sort of market at the moment, so there's going to be people who want it and people not want it. There will be a lot of movement over the next 24 months."
Despite being named on the bench, Mbye will again line up at centre - with Morris ruled out through injury - when the Bulldogs play the Tigers on Friday night. He has switched between the halves, hooker and centre during his 15-game NRL career.
"Five-eighth is where I would love to play my football," Mbye said. "That's where I've done most of my football at but in saying that I'm happy to fill any hole. Whenever someone goes down or there's an opportunity I'm willing to play there."
Mbye will play the Tigers for the first time since kicking a match-winning 45-metre extra-time field goal when the sides last met in March. It was the first time Mbye can recall kicking a field goal to win a game, having missed with a similar attempt while playing in the under-20s.
"I got a bit lucky last time I played them," Mbye said. "It was pretty special. It was something you watch as a kid growing up, you watch [Johnathan] Thurston, he's already kicked a few this year. Blokes like Thurston who I idolise, you watch him and do it, and go 'How good does that look? I want to give that a crack'. When I got it, it was a pretty proud moment for sure."
Mbye will link with the Queensland squad when they have their regular dinner catch-up with coach Mal Meninga before the Origin series begins.
