St George Illawarra centre Euan Aitken is confident his chronic hamstring injury won't keep him from his goal of becoming one of the top three-quarters in the NRL.
Aitken returned to full training this week after suffering yet another hamstring strain a fortnight ago, which followed a radical off-season epidural to address the problem.
The 22-year-old was dogged by hamstring and back problems for most of last year before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury that required major surgery over the summer.
Aitken admitted considering whether the constant injuries would force him out of the NRL in the same manner as former Dragons junior Yaw Kiti Glymin, who left the club last season.
"You definitely question (retiring). I hate to put my mate Kiti Glymin as an example but he had a lot of troubles with his hamstring. He found it too difficult to overcome," Aitken told AAP.
"He's going to have a year off but he's not at the Dragons anymore. That's my worst case scenario - for it to keep happening and I can't get on top of it.
"But it won't end me because I won't let it end me. I've just got to find a way around it."
Aitken is considered the front-runner to partner Tim Lafai in the centres as part of a backline that will be fed by international halves Gareth Widdop and Ben Hunt.
And after playing just a dozen games last season, he is desperate to show why the club extended his contract until the end of 2020 almost a year ago.
"I'm coming back and looking forward to a big year. I feel like I've got things to prove," he said.
"I've spent nearly a year out so I want to establish myself as one of the better centres in the comp and I want to be one of them dominant players that you know is going to be hard to tackle.
"I haven't reached any of my potential yet. With players like Gareth and Ben, they can only help.
"We've got some consistency on the right now - me, (Tyson Frizell) and Ben Hunt, we're all here for at least three years so we've got a lot of time to work on these combinations and make it one of the most dominant sides in the NRL."
