King of the kennel: Lewis to take charge from Foran

The Prince of Belmore is poised to claim the throne in 2019, with youngster Lachlan Lewis planning to take over Canterbury's chief playmaking duties from marquee man Kieran Foran.

Foran outranks Lewis by 176 NRL games, a premiership, 21 Tests for New Zealand and a sizeable amount of salary, but it is the precocious 22-year-old set to guide a rebooted Bulldogs attack around the paddock in 2019.

Lewis rose beyond his headline-grabbing relation to Immortal uncle Wally in an otherwise forgettable 2018 Canterbury campaign, starring across the second half of the season while Foran was on ice with a toe injury.

The former Kiwi skipper is fighting to prove his fitness and standing as one of the game's elite halves, forged during a golden period with Manly when he and Daly Cherry-Evans steered the Sea Eagles' ship to a 2011 title and an annual finals outing.

Despite boasting only nine games to his famous surname, Lewis is sizing himself up as the playmaking foil to Foran's once undeniable running game just as Cherry-Evans once did.

"We're trying to work out our strengths and that's something Kieran's been awesome at," Lewis said.

"Amongst the spine, trying to find how everyone can find how they play at their best.

"Kieran's the best at running and taking them on. We're obviously using that. One of my strengths is kicking, talking, organising.

"So if things happen the way I'd like them, I'd love to be talking to the boys then passing the footy to Kieran and he can score the tries. Let him go and do his thing."

Canterbury teammates report Foran has returned to Belmore a new man, fronting for his first full pre-season in four years and engineering what Michael Lichaa dubbed their best session of the summer on Wednesday, in which the 28-year-old "took on the line more than I've ever seen".

A minor hamstring issue is not expected to keep Foran out of the trials, where Lewis believes the Bulldogs will look to progress a game plan at odds with the structure-heavy strategies used predominantly across the NRL.

"We're running with the same game plan that we had at the end of the year," Lewis says.

"So it's great to have a pre-season to break that down and hone in on it.

"It's a high-tempo, not-premeditated game plan. Eyes up, running flat and running fast.

"It's hard to be an armchair critic of the way the game is played but [coach Dean Pay] has been a real visionary with seeing the game.

"It went through the whole 'Melbourne, slowing the ruck' saga to highly structured block plays and catching defenders out. Defence is getting too good now. There's too many good defensive centres and wingers that can shut things down and really stop teams.

"The way that we kind of picked up with it at the end of the year really shook up some teams."

A little more than 12 months ago Lewis was tapped on the shoulder by the besieged Bulldogs, told he could explore other options as his exclusion from the club's top 30 made a Telstra Premiership debut unlikely.

Now he's emerged out the other side of facing his own rugby league mortality, Lewis has "a lot less anxiety" to confront as his life gathers steam on and off the field.

Having married over the off-season, he and his wife Steph are expecting a baby girl in late May, with their new bub set to double as a model for the pair's expanding babywear business Parker & Co.

With an upgraded Canterbury deal shoring up his future until the end of 2020, Lewis is setting his sights on a couple of the game's bigger prizes.

"Last year I wanted to play first and now it's about setting goals where I'll achieve the most," he says.

"It's not how many games I'll play, how many wins. I want to take the team, if I can, to the finals.

"And with no timeline here, I want to play State of Origin. As you can sense with my family that's a huge thing.

"Finals is this year. Especially being an underdog I'd love that."