His form through the second half of the season has been key to the Canberra Raiders making the grand final, but Aidan Sezer knows he has a lot more to give on the biggest stage of all.
After being dropped earlier this season, Sezer has bounced back and his combination with Jack Wighton has grown as the Raiders cemented their place in the top four.
Now after helping steer the Raiders to the decider, Sezer said they can find a higher gear no matter who they face next Sunday.
"It probably wasn’t our best win tonight but as you can see one on of the characteristics of our team is being gritty and being able to get wins like that," Sezer told NRL.com.
"They (Souths Sydney) put us under immense pressure but as we said numerous times we back our defence and we back our character and it's got us to the grand final and we know there's two quality teams that are going to battle it out, so we'll do our homework, prepare and go again."
From regularly practising with a man down, a scenario they faced for much of the last 10 minutes against the Rabbitohs, to devoting most of their off-season to defence, the Raiders have managed to change the culture of their club inside 12 months.
Match Highlights: Raiders v Rabbitohs
Gone are the cavalier days of flick passes and half chances anywhere on the field. In vogue now are defending repeats sets on their own line and jamming opposition teams in the corner of a field.
"It's a testament to our coaching staff and the way they've prepared us for this season and for it to culminate with us making the grand final and now we've got the chance to win the premiership it's massive," Sezer said of the defensive mindset of the club.
Sezer grimaced at his right shoulder post-match but played down the pain, saying the chance to win a premiership will see him take to ANZ Stadium on Sunday.
"It feels pretty sore, it is what it is," he said.
"We'll needle it up and go again, but there's a few (pain killing) needles getting around every change room at this time of year."
Sezer said Canberra's attack and kicking game could have been better against Souths, but he attributed that partly to a desperate Rabbitohs placing the home side under immense pressure.
Wighton reflects on whirlwind 12 months
"We know we'd get more opportunities if we backed our defence and you could see tonight our attack was nowhere near what it should be," he said.
"Our kicking game was not our best and we played a lot better against the Melbourne Storm a couple of weeks ago, but we came up against a pretty hungry Rabbitohs side.
"Considering the occasion, it was good to get the win and we'll move on.
"They (Souths) a quality side and they tested us, but it doesn’t matter now we've given ourselves an opportunity now next week, so we'll focus on that now."
