Canterbury hooker Michael Ennis is struggling to get used to a rare situation in his eight-year NRL career - sitting on the sidelines during September.

Ennis has only once previously been at a club that has missed the finals, Newcastle in 2004.

He debuted in a Knights team which made the play-offs in 2003, got to the second-last week with St George Illawarra in 2005 and made the finals every year of his three-year stint with Brisbane between 2006-08.

Last year, the NSW No.9 was a major part of the Bulldogs' stunning turnaround from last to second on the NRL ladder.

It's different, though, in 2010 with Canterbury's finals hopes extinguished by a 30-6 thrashing in Newcastle last Sunday.

"Other than (2004) I've played every year so it's disappointing but these are the moments you draw from and you learn from and make sure you're not back here," he said.

"I'm a pretty competitive guy and it's hurting me a lot not being a part of the finals series, more than you would imagine."

Ennis is determined the Dogs will start their build-up for 2011 when they take on a Canberra side still with a slim chance of playing in September at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

"I'd be very disappointed just to go out and throw the footy around and have fun and play four games of league that mean nothing to me," he said.

"I'm not about that ... I'm not just taking the foot off the pedal and going, 'It's gone now, we'll worry about next year'."

The Raiders enter the game on a high after their comeback 30-26 win over second-placed Penrith and actually lead their head-to-head battles against Canterbury at ANZ Stadium 4-3, although the Bulldogs got them 18-10 in Canberra back in round 16.

"They've got a good roster and they're all starting to get healthy now," Ennis said.

"It's not so much about them now, it's about us getting ourselves right.

"We want to show (the fans) we haven't given up as players just because we're not part of the finals series.

"There's not a lot more talking can be done, our actions will show how much disappointment and how much our jumper means to us."

As for September's action, Ennis will be a keen spectator.

"All the holidays were booked for after October," he said.

"I love my footy so I'll enjoy the finals series regardless of us not being there.

"It will be disappointing and will hurt watching them and not being a part of it but it certainly gives you a lot of motivation to make sure we're not here next year."

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