Mr Priestly was speaking at the Woolshed on March 15, days after polls emerged showing he has made inroads into the conservative vote and is on track to make Nicholls a tight contest.
Nationals MP Damian Drum retires with a margin of 20 per cent, but Nationals candidate Sam Birrell has to contend with a Liberal candidate in Steve Brooks, as well as a well-resourced independent campaign, to retain the seat.
“We're going to see the toughest, most hard-fought, possibly dirty, not from us, campaign that Nicholls has ever seen,” Mr Priestly said.
“It is going to be like nothing else, it will be game on.“
Mr Priestly said positive early polling would put a real focus on the electorate for the major parties.
“That polling was an absolute shot across the bows to the people who have been complacent about our communities, and it will have absolutely woken the dragon,” he said.
He said while winning the seat was still an aim, the fight was about to get harder.
“We are not there yet, people,” he said to supporters.
“We're working well, we're doing a great job and we're covering a lot of ground, but we are going to have to lift to meet that challenge because our competitors are absolutely going to lift to meet us.“
Mr Priestly told supporters the campaign so far had shifted the dial in Nicholls and the seat would be firmly on the political radar.
“We have people thinking more about how they vote, why they vote, who represents us, and what that means, and we're a big tick, we've done that,” he said.
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