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DRAGONS
Flipping mindset helps Dufty hit top form in pursuit of new contract
Author
Troy Whittaker NRL.com Reporter
Timestamp
Mon 12 Apr 2021, 03:43 PM
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Dragons fullback Matt Dufty is prepared to be patient and focus on football while contract negotiations are ongoing.
The 25-year-old's flying start to the season continued with a scintillating two-try performance in
Sunday's 26-12 win over the Eels.
Despite the team now sitting fourth after four consecutive victories, coach Anthony Griffin won't rush into re-signing players and said he "hadn't thought about" whether the early form of Dufty and others like five-eighth Corey Norman warranted extensions.
"Good things come in time and if I'm worried about [a contract] then it's affecting me on the field," Dufty said.
"If I flip my mindset and just worry about how I'm playing ... then those contract things will come. I talk to a manager every day and it's building slowly. No updates ... We're going back and forth a bit."
As well as scoring a double - one being a contentious penalty try - Dufty set up two four-pointers with lovely passes to sink Parramatta.
Bunker awards penalty try to Dufty
Bunker awards penalty try to Dufty
It's just as well that Dufty's execution was precise - he joked he "probably would have heard Hook [Griffin] from the box" had something gone wrong after instinctively deviating from the coach's plan.
"I was hoping Hook wasn't gonna drop me this week because he said [get rid of the] long balls and play through the middle," he quipped.
Match Highlights: Eels v Dragons
Match Highlights: Eels v Dragons
"It's been giving us success this year, playing through the middle and playing those short passes, but I'm not a black-and-white kind of player. I play in the grey. I have to apologise to him during the week."
The custodian "did a lot of video, probably the most I've ever done" before the Eels clash and knew if he got Mitch Moses interested on their left edge that the halfback's outside men would follow in-field.
Dufty believes the next step in his game is finding the right balance between exploiting gaps in the middle and ball-playing. The Dragons will look to make it five straight wins when they host the Warriors at Kogarah on Sunday.
"I'm not doing the low-percentage plays, I'd say. I don't do that as much," said Dufty, who assisted 12 tries last year.
"But the way the game is going, there's a lot of space around the ruck. It's so fast out there, it's actually kind of ridiculous even for me.
"I don't know how the big boys do it, it's a credit to them that they play there for 80 minutes because it's a tough gig.
"I just wait for opportunities to present themselves. When Normy's playing around the ruck or Cluney [Adam Clune] is there, I'm always hanging around begging for that little inside ball, that half-break.
"I'm happy with how my game is building. It's not about those big plays for me this year; it's about doing those little things - getting the numbers right [in defence], being in position to save tries.
"Stuff like that. I'd rather do that than score 20 tries this year.
[The Parramatta match] was probably the most nervous I've been. I knew it was a big game and every other fullback has been carving up in the comp, so I thought I better step it up. I was just in the right spot and the boys gave me the ball in the right opportunities."
https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/04/12...ufty-hit-top-form-in-pursuit-of-new-contract/
