Ever since Ricky Stuart took control of the Raiders at the start of last season, Jarrad Kennedy has become a pivotal cog in the Green Machine.
Sharing his time between the centres, back row and the bench in 2015, Kennedy has become somewhat of a Mr Fix-It for the Raiders in the 32 NRL games he's played under Stuart thus far – having only racked up six games in the two seasons prior to his coach's arrival.
Named on the bench to face the Knights this weekend, Kennedy will move from the centres - replaced by returning Jordan Rapana - and will most likely play in the forwards at the weekend, which demonstrates his utility value for the Raiders.
"I guess it helps me stay in the team [and shows] that I'm an asset for Ricky to be able to be put in different positions there," Kennedy said of his ability to play in multiple positions.
"It's definitely a positive for me to be able to play in different positions, so I'll keep working on them all. I still have a lot of learning to do though, [the centres especially are] very different.
"It isn't far in terms of standing position from the back row but it is so much different on the field."
While his role in the team has been constantly chopped and changed throughout the year, Kennedy has still managed to average 27.3 tackles and 76.2 metres per game.
Asked whether he feels like he is improving in the centres, despite being a regular back-rower, Kennedy said it was "hard to say".
"Because I'm not staying in the centres permanently and I've been sharing my time between there and the back row, I manage to drop those skills so when I do go back to the centres I have to sort of start from scratch," Kennedy said.
"It's so much different and you have to draw from memory because there are so many [positional objectives] you forget about."
From a team perspective, and despite the Raiders losing their past three games, Kennedy believes there are only a few things for his side to fix before heading up the Hume Highway to the Hunter.
"We're not far off so hopefully we'll get the win this weekend," he said. "Our errors put us under pressure and were one of the big killers on the weekend; they put us on the back foot.
"In saying that we improved in other areas so we'll be working on that this weekend."
