Junior Paulo is going nowehere. Credit:Getty He's happy in the ACT, with his partner and two young children all settled in the nation's capital. While not one to take too much interest in the media, the 23-year-old prop said he'd been shown the rumours linking him with a request to move back to the Eels. But he was quick to dismiss them as nothing more than that. "I've been shown this story a couple of times and I can assure you I've got nothing to do with it," Paulo told Fairfax Media.

"I'm really happy down here in Canberra and since I've been here. As long as I'm happy away from the footy field then none of that's true. "I'm not sure who made it up. If I was disgruntled I would've approached 'Sticky' [coach Ricky Stuart] and told them that I was unhappy at the club ... but I am happy here at Canberra. "They're [the family] loving it. That's what's making everything away from the footy field a lot easier down here in Canberra, so I'm really enjoying it." The gentle giant even revealed he was that happy in Canberra he wanted to extend his contract beyond the end of 2018. The Raiders have already moved to lock in Jordan Rapana, Joey Leilua and Jack Wighton beyond 2018, and Fairfax Media revealed on Thursday they'd started talks with five-eighth Blake Austin.

Paulo said he wanted to follow suit, putting paid to the talk he wanted to return to the club where he played his junior football. "It would be a good thing for me if they can get underway with it [contract negotiations]," he said. "I've got to be able to play good footy for them to keep me, so as long as I'm trying week-in, week-out and putting my best foot forward then I'm sure an offer will come somewhere on the table." He's been one of the Raiders' shining lights in a tough season where they're struggling to meet expectations.

Paulo's developed into the Raiders' leading middle this campaign, averaging 149.1 metres per game - up from 114.6m in 2016 - and 21.2 tackles, although like many of his teammates he's also making more errors. The Raiders have lost their last four games to sit 12th on the NRL ladder and they're three wins outside the top eight, needing to win at least six of their last eight games to have a chance of making the eight. That includes two games against the Melbourne Storm and also a trip to reigning premiers Cronulla. Paulo said they were determined to turn things around. "It's tough times at the moment, but tough times won't last. I reckon we'll still be able to turn it around and carry on and finish our season strongly," he said.

"Around the club we're all getting on with our business, turning up week-in, week-out. Loading "We're always trying to find positives at the start of the week to carry into the back end of the week and that's something we're trying to build as a team. "We're in a tough time at the moment, but it's up to us to get us out of that and we've all got to be buying in and being on board."