WHEN Dylan Lucas first signed with the Newcastle Knights at the end of 2018, he was hoping to play a couple of games with the club's Jersey Flegg side.
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But the Albion Park-Oak Flats product far exceeded those goals in 2019.
After a number of standout performances during his 18 matches with the under 20s team, Lucas was eventually transitioned into the Knights NSWRL Canterbury Cup side - who he played three games for.
"I really enjoyed my first year at the club - all the boys and staff were really welcoming which made it a really smooth transition," Lucas said.
Despite spending most of his junior career in the halves or the back-row, the 19-year-old was used primarily in the centres in 2019.
As such, his edge defence was one aspect he really wanted to improve going into his second pre-season with the Novocastrians.
"Having finished the year in the centres, I really wanted to focus on nailing my defensive principles during the pre-season - as I hadn't played centre for close to five years," he said.
"As a whole, pre-season was again really tough, both physically and mentally.
"Although this was my second at the club, I personally I found this year's pre-season is that hardest I've been through yet.
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"There was a lot of conditioning - made even tougher by how hot it was."
The Group Seven junior made such an impression over the summer, he spent the final month of pre-season with the club's first grade group.
"That [training with the top group] was a great experience," he said.
"There has been a real emphasis at the club on getting all the basic principals and trademarks right - which all starts with the first grade group.
"This training his given me a solid indication of where my footy is at and the intensity I would have to train at, to get to the level I want to play at consistently."
This top group experience even involved Lucas playing a NRL trial game against St George Illawarra last month.
"The trial against the Dragons was another stepping stone towards my ultimate goal of playing first grade," he said.
"To get that experience is something you work your whole career for.
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"That's only a trial though, so I'm not going to get ahead of myself - it's given me a small taste of the top grade and will drive me to work even harder to achieve my dream."
With that gruelling pre-season behind him, Lucas is now focused on playing solid week in, week out football with the Knights' Canterbury Cup side - who kicks-off their season on March 14 against the Warriors at McDonald Jones Stadium.
"My goals for 2020 would be to play consistent footy and then just see what happens from there," he said.
"If I keep putting in the hard work, I'm confident the results will follow."