Will teenage back Simi Sasagi be the next young Knights star to graduate to the NRL?

He won't feature on the club's team sheet for Friday night's season-opener against the Bulldogs at McDonald Jones Stadium.

If truth be known, he's hardly featured on any team sheet at all over the past two seasons. But the prodigiously talented young Knights utility back is aiming to finally change all that in 2021.

He's out to make up for lost time after a frustrating long-term injury and the COVID shutdown basically put him out of action over the past two seasons.

Outside of an eye-catching senior debut for the Knights at the NRL Nines in Perth during the 2020 pre-season, only the most devout Knights fan would have even seen him play.

Before his Nines appearance, the Auckland-born 19-year-old's only previous game in the past two years was an Under 20's clash against Manly in early 2019 in Newcastle. It was a game the young Knights won in a canter with Sasagi and Bradman Best scoring four tries each in a 60-plus point drubbing of the Eagles.

But having starred for the club in just about every position on the field from prop to wing the previous year in the S G Ball Under 18's competition to underline his outstanding potential, it was after that Manly game that things started to unravel for Sasagi.

In the build-up, he had been sidelined as he rehabbed a lower back problem. But it flared up again with scans revealing he was suffering from stress fractures in his lower back.

And while he could potentially have made it back on the field that season, due to his age, it was decided not to risk him and he sat out the rest of 2019.

Then COVID put an end to the lower grades last year, leaving him in limbo again, adding to his frustration.

"Yeah, it's been tough not playing," Sasagi told the Newcastle Herald. "But that's footy I guess. When they found the stress fractures, because I was young, my body was still developing and they didn't want to bring me back and take any risks with it that might have affected me long term. I was patient with my recovery and didn't want to push too hard.

"I got an opportunity in the Nines over in Perth last year. It was pretty cool and a good experience. I got to play with Gidsy [Kurt Gidley] and scored a try against Penrith which was good so I really enjoyed that.

"But then COVID hit and that was the end of it. I was training fulltime thankfully and every week, I just had the attitude of trying to make myself better and getting myself ready when an opportunity comes. That's the case this year too."

Ask anyone at the club about Sasagi and they speak in glowing terms. They like the way he moves, his feet, his instincts with the footy.

Coach Adam O'Brien says it is now a matter of the 97kg centre/five-eighth developing the confidence to bring all his skill and natural ability to the table on game day.

Rest assured. No-one will be surprised if Sasagi finds himself on the NRL team sheet at some stage in 2021.

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