Canberra Raiders front-rower Paul Vaughan is determined to lock down a spot in Ricky Stuart's top 17 with an eye on seeing out the remainder of his deal.
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Vaughan is contracted to the Raiders until the end of 2017 but has been linked to Melbourne and Newcastle as he shuffles in and out of Stuart's side.
The 25-year-old has played just three first-grade matches since July but played his first finals game against Penrith after Clay Priest was ruled out with a broken ankle.
"That's my goal - to play consistent first grade - and I want to do it in Canberra," Vaughan said.
"It was obviously not the way I envisioned it with Priesty going down … [but] I'm going to take that opportunity with both hands and have a strong finish to the end of the season."
Should Vaughan stay in the nation's capital he will play a role in one of the competition's most imposing forward packs with Shannon Boyd and Junior Paulo combining for close to 250 kilograms.
Boyd has flourished this season but Vaughan says the best is yet to come having played alongside the hulking prop since the pair were teenagers.
"I think he's starting to reach his potential of premier front rower in the league," Vaughan said.
Boyd hopes Vaughan will stick around at Raiders HQ as he and Paulo continue to give opposition halfbacks nightmares.
Australian Test halfback Cooper Cronk has replaced Penrith youngster Nathan Cleary in the firing line ahead of his 300th NRL game on Saturday night.
But Paulo says the green machine's forward pack won't be out to target Cronk - the game plan will simply be "to run hard at whoever is in front of us".
Paulo believes the trio will have to be on their "A-game coming up against a quality side" in Melbourne in the preliminary final.
But the 22-year-old behemoth says combining well on the field comes easy because they enjoy each other's company off the paddock.
"There's a bit of banter that always floats around between me and Boydy off the field - especially in the kitchen," Paulo laughed.
"That's one area we sort of give it to each other, but I guess if you've got a good relationship off the field it certainly works on the field too."
Paulo believes Boyd is the bigger one of the two but that doesn't necessarily mean the Cowra product eats more - that just "depends what day of the week it is".
While they spend time in the kitchen cooking meals together, Paulo said the front-row pairing are a long way off earning a nickname like the "Leipana" pairing of Jordan Rapana and Joey Leilua.
"They're on a whole other level those two," Paulo laughed.
"They even sleep at each other's places so it's definitely on a whole other level compared to me and Boydy."
That evaluation sits quite well with Boyd.
"No one's ever like those other two - they're mad, I think they're in love with each other," Boyd said.
NRL PRELIMINARY FINAL
Raiders: 1. Jack Wighton, 2. Edrick Lee, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Blake Austin, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Junior Paulo, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Shannon Boyd, 11. Josh Papalii, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Sia Soliola. Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste, 15. Luke Bateman, 16. Paul Vaughan, 17. Joe Tapine.
Storm: 1. Cameron Munster, 2. Suliasi Vunivalu, 3. William Chambers, 4. Cheyse Blair, 5. Marika Koroibete, 6. Blake Green, 7. Cooper Cronk, 8. Jesse Bromwich, 9. Cameron Smith (c), 10. Jordan McLean, 11. Kevin Proctor, 12. Tohu Harris, 13. Dale Finucane. Interchange: 14. Kenny Bromwich, 15. Tim Glasby, 16. Christian Welch, 17. Ben Hampton, 20. Matt White, 21. Felise Kaufusi.
