Canberra Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson is determined to avoid the hype around his dominant start to the season, more focused on turning his club's form around against the Canterbury Bulldogs on Monday night.
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Hodgson is a shock Dally M Player of the Year leader, polling 10 votes from a possible 12 in the first four rounds of the NRL season.
He has been crunched from triple-figure odds in round one to a $13 fourth favourite with TAB Sportsbet for the award.
While Hodgson said it was nice to hear positive things about his game, he would happily take a drop in personal form if it meant a Raiders win.
"I don't like to think about things like that - whether it's selections at the end of the year or any personal accolades, I just like to take each week as it comes," Hodgson said.
"I'm a firm believer if you concentrate on the week in hand and try and play your best rugby then everything else just comes off that back of that - I'll just keep concentrating on that.
"I'm my own biggest critic, I'm pretty tough on myself and I'll continue to be.
"It's always nice to get the applause and hear people say good things about you, but at the same time I'm just going to put my head down and keep working hard, keep concentrating on the things we need to work on as a team - I think that's the most important thing.
"I'd take my own personal form down if it meant we were getting a few extra points on the board as a team."
Hodgson received praise on Tuesday from another British import in Bulldogs prop James Graham, who labelled the former Hull KR player one of the premier hookers in the NRL.
"I'm really pleased for him to be playing well. I know he's worked really hard on his game. He was really excited about the opportunity to come out here and play," Graham said.
"He's knuckled down and he's one of the leading nines in the competition now.
"He's come from England with people not knowing that much about him but Ricky Stuart and the staff at Canberra have really got the best out of him."
"He's come into a really intense environment and I think the style of play over here really suits him, he's working so hard for that team."
Raiders teammate Josh Papalii agreed with Graham's assessment.
"He's got that running game most No.9s don't have, and he's got the kicking game everyone knows about now," Papalii said.
"He doesn't shy away from defence too - I definitely see him as a massive contender for the Dally M."
Despite being named at No.9 in every game this season, Hodgson has been playing out of position to help halfback Sam Williams in attack. But with star halves duo Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin named to return against the Bulldogs at Belmore, Hodgson was looking forward to playing a more traditional No.9 role.
"It's certainly going to help us - Blake and Aidan will be a big addition to the team," he said.
"I think we're really lucky to have Sam Williams there who has done a really good job for us over the past few weeks and he's a bit unfortunate to miss out, but we've got a tough squad to pick from and when you've got that there's going to be people unlucky each week."
MONDAY
Canterbury Bulldogs v Canberra Raiders at Belmore Sports Ground, 7pm. TV: Live on Fox. Tickets available through Ticketek.
