The former Test and Origin forward was looking to bring that big-game experience to his junior club after returning from an unhappy stint with Penrith and Leeds in the UK.

The Shellharbour product played in his side's opening two games before a tough conversation with Paul McGregor saw him watch on from the sideline as the Dragons went down 18-nil to the Warriors.

He returned a week later against Canterbury but produced his best performance since returning the club against Cronulla on Sunday, promoted to the starting line-up and getting his side on the front foot early.

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"It was great to get a sniff of the starting team and get back in there," Merrin said.

"I didn't want to wait for it to come to me, I wanted to go after it and get involved in the game.

"Once you get involved early, your footwork and everything else starts to come together.

"It was a plan of mine to get involved, get the ball early, get on the front foot, build pressure through the middle and I knew the boys that came on would keep up with it."

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The 30-year-old was named on the bench for Saturday's clash with the Titans, though he could again swap with James Graham in an unchanged 17.

Regardless, he'll be looking to build on the Sharks performance after admittedly "overthinking" things in his NRL second coming.

"I think it's the mindset I was in, probably for a few years now, I've been playing myself out of rugby league," Merrin said.

"I was in a mindset of just thinking of failure instead of success. When you think about [negative] things over and over you start to bring it into reality.

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"It was a good insight into things, a good little kick in the arse and a bit of a wake-up call.

"I'm just being fearless with it now and, moving forward, I just want to bring good energy and a good vibe to the boys."

It's a mindset shared across the squad, with Merrin saying a more relaxed vibe paid off in the 30-16 win over the Sharks.

"I think we were a lot more resilient but we were a lot more relaxed to," the Group Seven junior said.

"Being relaxed brings confidence, we knew that it's a game of rugby league, points are going to be scored and there's going to be a grind in the game.

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"There was, they got a few points, but we just stayed calm with it and believed in what we were doing.

"It's been a tough few weeks but we knew it was there.

"We've known from the get-go what we're capable of doing and once we got that taste of consistency in the game we just wanted to stick at it.

"We knew if we kept grinding through it we were fitter than them and we'd come over the top of them.

"We've built a little bit of a foundation now, that's what we needed, and now we need to build off that and move forward."

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