Greg Inglis doesn’t expect to take Billy Slater’s Queensland and Australian No.1 jerseys, but the South Sydney fullback is striving to be put on the same pedestal.
Just three matches into his new NRL career as a fullback, Inglis says he wants to be the best.
That might seem a little ambitious, given many have touted Slater as the greatest fullback the game has seen, but Inglis has warned he’s only just getting started.
It’s certainly dangerous practice to question what Inglis is capable of, given he’s forged a reputation as the world’s best centre, despite it being, by all accounts, his second-best position.
If it weren’t for Slater, Inglis would have been Craig Bellamy’s first-choice custodian at Melbourne, and the 25-year-old is enjoying the challenge of making up for lost time.
“I would like to be the best fullback there is,” Inglis said.
“That’s pretty hard … but I want to be up there with the status with where Billy Slater is.
“I think my best is still yet to come and I’m still finding my positional plays in the fullback role and, once I get that going, which hopefully won’t be too long, I can be more comfortable and get more free rein.
“I haven’t played there since 2007 so it’s been a while … but those natural instincts come back in.”
Matching Billy Slater might come later but, for now, it’s all about conquering Canterbury gun Ben Barba.
The Bulldogs’ livewire has been in outstanding form and is a frontrunner to earn a place for Queensland as their X-factor off the bench in State of Origin this year.
Inglis didn’t want to play favourites in predicting whether Barba was in line for a Maroons debut, but said if he wasn’t marking up against the Bulldogs fullback on Good Friday at ANZ Stadium, he would be watching in the stands anyway.
“I’ll pay to go watch Ben Barba play. He’s that type of player we enjoy watching and just the skill level he’s capable of is outstanding and you can’t coach that,” said Inglis, who believes Barba will be after a big performance against him.
“He’ll have to break the line to get to me, so hopefully our front line won’t let that happen. I’ll be pretty filthy if that happens.”
Inglis has told coach Michael Maguire he would like to stay at fullback even when Souths flyer Nathan Merritt returns from injury.
However, Maguire might not have the luxury of that selection headache for a while yet, with Merritt seemingly no closer to a NRL return.
Merritt has been told rest is the only cure for a rare toe injury which causes the flyer immense pain when he attempts to run.
The 28-year-old is among just 10 per cent of the population with two little bones, instead of one, on either side of the main bone in his big toe.
He has inflamed cartilage around that area and must wait until that settles down before he can take the field again.
The Rabbitohs medical team has even sought advice from AFL and American NFL sources about how best to handle the injury.
