It's the last place a full-back wants to be.

Picking up the ball in the in-goal area, more than 100 metres from the try line, defenders bearing down.

But it's no big deal for the Canberra Raiders' Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

In his first season as a starting NRL full-back he has become the master of the in-goal escape.

He's snuck out 11 times this season — more than any other player in the NRL, and more than anyone has achieved in a single season over the past four years.



Player Year Escapes Failed escapes Nicoll-Klokstad 2019 11 2 Hopoate 2016 10 8 Tuivasa-Sheck 2017 9 1 Tedesco 2017 8 3 Trbojevic 2017 8 6 Wighton 2016 8 6 Tedesco 2018 7 1 Gordon 2017 7 1 Wighton 2017 7 7 Munster 2016 7 5 Source: NRL.com Stats

And he also has the best rate of escaping the in-goal over the same period out of any player not named Billy Slater.



What's his story?

A player who came from nowhere to drive Canberra towards a grand final this year, Nicoll-Klokstad is remarkable on and off the field.

Teenage years are painful for many, but his experience was extreme.

In 2010 his brother died, his mother went to prison and he flew his Auckland coop.

The softly spoken teen moved to Melbourne, becoming a Melbourne Storm junior, before joining the Warriors in 2016.

But stuck behind Roger Tuivasa-Sheck across the Tasman, the Cook Islands representative performed his own contractual escape.

A last-minute move to the Raiders prior to the start of round one this year led to one of the NRL's boom seasons.

Nicoll-Klokstad leads all players in kick return metres and is fifth in total run metres.

And then of course there is his record escaping the in-goal.

So how does he do it? Here are some of his secrets.



The shimmy

After securing a release from the Warriors at the start of the season, Nicoll-Klokstad made an immediate impact for his new club.

Two escapes in round one were followed by two more in round two.

And this one was a doozy.

In a fullback's nightmare scenario, the ball holds up near the dead-ball line.

Nicoll-Klokstad sets his feet on the inside of the ball as it sits up, then launches off his left leg to evade the one-man chase.

Clear of pressure, his speed takes him beyond the 10-metre line.

The fake inside

By round nine he was less of an unknown quantity.

The Raiders were top-four material by this stage, and their new fullback had scored in back-to-back games.

The Roosters were clearly prepared for the lime green number one.

Already ahead by 18 points in the first half, a wall of Roosters chasers pursued him off a deep kick.

Near the dead-ball line, Nicoll-Klokstad turns his body to the open side of the field, then immediately lurches back towards the blind, taking two chasing Roosters out of play.

But the hard work isn't done yet. He squeezes between two Roosters to slide back into play.

The commitment

Some fear the effect of the grind of a long season on emerging players.

But as 2019 wore on, Nicoll-Klokstad seemed to only improve.

Five four-pointers in four weeks marked a try-scoring purple patch during the depths of winter, as the pathway to the finals narrowed.

And he was still maintaining his historical Houdini act.

In round 18, a surging Wests Tigers side puts in a deep kick, which again sits up in goal.

Nicoll-Klokstad, head up to check the chase, runs laterally to evade Benji Marshall before straightening and burrowing through two Tigers tacklers, and Luke Brooks.

Miraculously, he gets back into play with a second effort.

And he'll get a chance for many more escapes in the lime green.

Nicoll-Klokstad has re-signed with the Raiders until 2023.

"I'm laughing now, it's crazy man, just how it's all sort of worked itself out," he told NRL.com.

The Raiders play South Sydney in Canberra on Friday evening for a spot in the grand final.