Bulldog Mahoney's message to Eels: Come and get me

His work ethic in defence made him one of Parramatta's most reliable players across his five seasons at the club.

But Mahoney expects to go from hero to villain on Sunday and when asked which of his teammates would be most keen to target him, the hooker didn't think for long.

"Probably all of them," he said.

"It gets me excited actually, to be honest. I'm looking forward to it."

The 24-year-old has wasted little time getting to work at the Bulldogs; through six rounds, only Melbourne hooker Harry Grant has made more tackles.

But Mahoney believes the major difference between his new job and his last has been his extra workload in attack.

The Queenslander has booted a league-high three 40/20 kicks so far and made 34 dummy-half runs, just under half the number he managed across 28 games last year (70).

"At Parra, there are lot of boys that are very dominating football players," Mahoney explained.

"They have their own right to do that and that's fine, they're ball-runners of the team.

"I've obviously got a bit more freedom to take the line on here (at the Bulldogs).

"I'm still balancing things of when to run and when not to run, balancing having to make a few tackles a game.

"It's something I'm still building and still getting right."

Away from the ball, Mahoney is flourishing in his role as co-captain alongside Matt Burton.

"I've probably grown up a bit," he said.

"There's probably a bit more responsibility on myself. I'm really enjoying the (captaincy) role at the moment, I'm obviously getting some great help from 'Burto' and 'Kiks' (Viliame Kikau) and stuff like that.  

"It doesn't really change too much of my footy capacity but off the field I feel it's definitely helped me as a person."

When combined with his defensive grit, Mahoney's new attacking flair has made him an early candidate for buy of the year. His form has impressed Eels teammate-turned-rival Mitch Moses.

"He's been playing outstanding footy," Moses said.

"He's obviously the captain there and he's really taken that with both hands.

"We'll have to do a job on him."