As Benji Marshall's management waited for a revised offer from Wests Tigers, the five-eighth insisted he was trying to focus on his form rather than his clouded future.
Marshall and the Tigers will try to turn around their season on Saturday night against Canberra at Campbelltown Stadium while his future at the club remains up in the air. Having met with Marshall's manager, Martin Tauber, on Thursday, Tigers chief operating officer Grant Mayer is due to put forward a revised offer on a contract upgrade.
That didn't eventuate on Friday. Yet with Marshall linked to a possible switch to rugby union, the player insisted his contract negotiations were ''the furthest thing from my mind at the moment''.
Advertisement
''My priority is to try and play good for the team and that's my focus,'' Marshall said. ''So my manager can take care of that side and I'll just worry about playing.''
Asked about the links with rugby union, Marshall said: ''You guys know more than me. That's not my focus. That's why you have a manager to do that stuff. At the end of the day, I'm pretty sure the club is trying to do something to renegotiate my contract, but this week is a big game for us and I've just been focusing on that.
''After the game I'm sure I will be able to sit down and talk about what's happening in the future, but for now it's about this game. I'd love to be here for life and if the club sees it that way, I'm sure I will be.''
Marshall, captaining the Tigers in Robbie Farah's absence, admitted he had not been happy with his form of late. He missed nine tackles in the Tigers' 32-12 loss to Brisbane last Monday night.
''It's a bit patchy lately, a bit up and down,'' he said. ''I'd like to be playing better, there's no doubt about that. No one likes to be embarrassed in defence and your ego takes a hit a little bit.
''You just have to go back to the drawing board and work hard. In terms of happiness, I love the club. I've been here for my whole career and I've got a lot of mates here.'' Marshall maintained that criticism of his form would spur him on. ''You just get used to it but it doesn't affect the way I play. If anything it makes you want to play better,'' he said.
While the Tigers have had significant injury problems this season, the Raiders will be missing significant talent, not least Blake Ferguson, Edrick Lee and Josh Papalii.
''It is going to come down to who runs harder and who tackles harder,'' Marshall said. ''Hopefully that's us.''
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy says the signs are good that his team won't be tripped up by State of Origin commitments this season. The Storm play the Gold Coast Titans at Skilled Park on Monday night without Origin guns Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Ryan Hoffman.
It is a problem that tests the Storm each year - with mixed results. Bellamy admits there is no magic bullet but he says some tinkering has been done at training this week, and the signs have been promising.''These guys have trained really well, with energy and enthusiasm. If you can do that at training, signs of that usually end up on the field,'' he said
