Canberra Raiders star Blake Ferguson has re-signed with the club after a good run of form. Picture: Mark Evans Source: The Daily Telegraph
CANBERRA's Blake Ferguson looks to have turned a corner, extending his NRL contract with the Raiders until the end of 2015 following a man-of-the-match performance against the table-topping Melbourne Storm.
Ferguson's name has been thrown into the mix as a possible State of Origin bolter following his two-try performance on Saturday night.
However, his 2013 season with the Raiders hasn't been entirely rosy.
The Indigenous All-Stars representative has been caught up in several controversies over the past six months, including being ejected from a Canberra music festival for spitting at patrons and drinking with sacked fullback Josh Dugan on a Canberra rooftop after skipping a rehab session.
Only the backing of the Raiders' leadership group helped him narrowly avoid the same fate as Dugan.
Ferguson said he was working just as hard on his life away from football as he was on the training paddock.
"I've been doing plenty of things outside of football to help me and I've been working with the coaches and senior players to make sure I'm focussed," he said.
"I've been working with some counsellors as well to talk about a few things and they've been giving me some tools to work on outside of footy which has been a huge help."
Ferguson had an option on his contract for the 2014 season and agreed to take up that option.
The 23-year-old said he was keen to make sure he remained focussed on his career and said he knew he had to continue to work hard to achieve long-term goals.
"I'm very excited. It's good news for me extending until 2015 and I'm very happy with it," Ferguson said.
"I just want to keep moving forward with some of the things I've been working on both on and off the field."
Raiders chief executive Don Furner said the club had shown faith in Ferguson by re-signing him for an extended period and said he had some great representative incentives in the contract which he believes Blake will achieve.
"He's one of the most exciting talents in the game at the moment and we want him to continue to improve as a player and a person," Furner said.
AAP
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