Exciting young Canterbury Bulldogs back Ben Barba has signed a contract extension with the NRL club to keep him at Belmore until the end of the 2012 season.

Barba, who has made 14 NRL appearances since debuting in round 20, 2008, is seen as one of the brightest prospects at the Bulldogs.

"Ben is a wonderful talent, who can create something from nothing with the ball in hands and we are very pleased with his ongoing development," said coach Kevin Moore on Thursday.

"We have been very transparent with the fact that Ben needs to continue to work hard on all aspects required by the modern day footballer and we firmly believe Ben can continue to be that person."

Barba joined the Bulldogs as an 18-year-old in 2007 from central Queensland town Mackay, and was the leading point scorer in the inaugural national youth competition in 2008.

He said he was excited about securing his future at the club until the end of 2012.

"The Bulldogs have shown great faith and I'm looking forward to continuing to repay that faith," he said.

Barba will be out to repay the NRL club's faith in him when his side looks to take revenge on Parramatta at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.

The exciting 20-year-old has blossomed into an NRL super-sub in 2010 with seven tries from as many games, putting an unsettled past off the field behind him.

Last year, he was stood down after a carpark punch-up with team-mates Jamal Idris and Lee Te Maari, who has since been cut by the Dogs.

Dogs CEO Todd Greenberg said Barba, who credits much of his turnaround to veteran halfback Brett Kimmorley's influence, had met the squeaky-clean standards the club demanded.

"We've said all along to earn contracts with the club it's more than being able to kick, tackle and pass and Benny's done a lot of those things off the field," Greenberg said.

Barba's signature provides one piece in an elaborate NRL recruitment puzzle made more complicated in the past week by the impending split-up of the Melbourne squad.

Greenberg said the utility's deal had no bearing on whether veteran Kimmorley would be re-signed.

But Kimmorley's decision, due in the next few weeks, could have an influence on which Melbourne stars the Dogs seek permission to approach.

With the Storm needing to shed more than $1 million of talent at least one of the "big four" of Greg Inglis, Cameron Smith Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk is likely to go.

Former Australian halfback Cronk could become a free agent and Dogs coach Kevin Moore said the club would have no guilt in raiding the beleaguered former premiers.

"You wouldn't feel guilty about it, that's just a fact of life," he said.

"It's a professional business."

With homesick prop Ben Hannant keen to head back to Queensland, Moore confirmed off-contract emerging Storm front-rower Aiden Tolman was in the club's sights.

"He's an outstanding young player so he's one of a number of blokes that we've got our eyes on so we'll continue to talk to those guys," Moore said.

Former Dog Greg Eastwood's name was also thrown into the equation this week, with suggestions he is unhappy in the UK, but Greenberg said he had not heard from the Kiwi international.

Despite a long injury list at the Bulldogs, Barba will again start off the bench against the Eels with Blake Green to wear the No.6.

"We've still got a bit of a way to develop him into that fulltime first grade footballer that's playing 80 minutes every week but we've got a plan in place for that," Moore said.

"Benny's very supportive of that, he understands where he's at and where he needs to get to."

The Dogs will be seeking to avenge last September's 22-12 preliminary final loss in front of more than 75,000 fans at the same venue but have lost six of their past seven against the Eels.

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