FORMER Merimbula-Pambula player, and Dragons rookie, Euan Aitken’s NRL debut had a bit of everything on Saturday.

Aitken was a late call-up for the match against Canberra at the expense of veteran Dane Nielsen and his debut was shaping as one to forget when his side trailed 18-0 after just 20 minutes.

However, a second-half surge saw the Dragons run in four tries to overcome the deficit and give the 19-year-old a dream start to his NRL career. With confirmation of his debut coming just 24 hours before kick-off Aitken said he didn't have time to dwell on any pre-game nerves.

“Firstly it was excitement straight away," he said.

“There was a few little nerves there, but I just tried to complete the same routine I always do before games.

“It was touch and go through the week.

“Mary [coach Paul McGregor] told me I had to be preparing to play and on Friday he announced I was in the team so I came down with the boys and prepared from there."

Brought into the side to bring attacking spark, Aitken spent much of the game carting the ball out of his own end, breaking eight tackles in a game-high 18 carries for 176 metres to underline his value at both ends of the park.

“I just carried the ball strongly as much as I could and provide that for the team,” he said.

“There was a bit of adversity in the first half, including a bad defensive read from me which is something I've got to improve on, but it was a great buzz to get that win coming from 18-0 down.

"We had belief in each other and we knew we just needed to fix up our little errors and penalties.

“If we can play like that and complete our sets we’ve always got that spark in attack.

“We just need to hold the ball and build pressure on their line.

“All credit to the boys we stuck to it and it was a great win.”

McGregor was glowing in his praise of Aitken.

“I've never seen someone offer as much on debut as Euan Aitken," McGregor said.

“His involvement from the very start was pure class.

“It was a great debut and he's got a bright future"

McGregor admitted his side's trouble scoring points had prompted the decision to promote the youngster.

"We only had a five-day turnaround so it was a tough one," McGregor said.

“Dane [Nielsen} had a few bumps from last week and obviously when you lose you need to make some changes.

“I thought [Aitken] played really well in reserve grade and he just beats people.

“He did that again today, he's a powerful runner of the football, and we needed some points ... that's why he got the call-up.”