Mitchell Aubusson barely troubles the scales as far as NRL second rowers go, but his performances have added significant weight to a Roosters forward pack which was looking as thin as he was at the start of the season.

Following the departures of big back rowers Willie Mason, Craig Fitzgibbon, Shane Shackleton, Setaimata Sa, Iosia Soliola and Rohan Ahern since last year, new coach Brian Smith asked Aubusson to make the move from the centres into the scrum.

Some bulking up over the pre-season has taken him to 94kg, with Liam Fulton and Sam Rapira just about the only other second rowers in the competition who weigh less than Aubusson.

This Monday night he'll wear the same number as Mason, who is now with North Queensland, but gives away 19kg in size.

However, the numbers do stack up for Aubusson on the stats sheet - he's made five line-breaks, just one shy of leaders Anthony Laffranchi and Scott Bolton.

And he's scored three tries, again just short of Laffranchi and Bolton at the top of the pops.

"I've put on a little bit of size over the off-season and once you're out there you don't really think about how small you are, you just go out there and give it a red hot crack and it seems to be working so far," Aubusson told AAP.

"It (playing second row) took a bit of getting used to, but you've got a whole pre season and all the trial games to get your head around it and try a couple of different things.

"I'm still working on it, but I played all my junior footy there so it wasn't totally foreign."

Aubusson puts his strong start to 2010 down to players like Mitchell Pearce and Todd Carney who have provided him with good ball.

But on numerous occasions, the Ballina junior has created opportunities himself, and has developed a lethal combination with outside backs Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Sam Perrett on the right side of the field.

Aubusson concedes he needed to make an immediate impression, after a couple of years of shifting between positions and grades.

"Definitely, it's always important to do that and I've played a couple of different positions and tried a couple of different things and at the moment it's just good that I feel comfortable in a position," he said.

"I've only had a short career, but definitely consistently it's been a better start.

"It all depends on the guys inside you and those guys seem to be some of the best in the game so as long as I keep getting those opportunities, I want to try and take them with both hands."

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