Rookie Knights winger Brayden Musgrove makes most of second chance at the club

But the rookie winger left few people in any doubt he has the talent to make it in the top grade after a near faultless 80 minutes at McDonald Jones Stadium last Friday night.

While Ponga and fill-in centre Brodie Jones rightly shared most of the accolades after the come-from-behind 26-22 win, Musgrove's assuredness under the high ball and tough carries out of his own end left the man who enticed him back into the fold at the Knights more than satisfied with his decision.

It was Knights head of recruitment Clint Zammit who decided Musgrove 23, should get a second chance at the club where he played his junior football before he left for a stint at Manly last year that never got off the ground and ended with him back playing at Cessnock.

"Muzzy's name was tossed up to me last season and I had a look at a few tapes of him playing and decided to get him in for a meeting,"Zammit recalled.

It was back in September last year, after Musgrove had helped Cessnock win the Newcastle premiership.

First impressions, it has to be said, weren't great.

"He was nine kilos over-weight when I first met him - I think he was around 113kgs - but I offered him a train and trial contract and virtually by the time he started training, he was down to 104kgs," Zammit said. "That showed he was serious.

"He's a big body and one of the best athletes you'll see. They tell me he was a really good basketballer as well and you can see that because he's got plenty of skill with the footy. Whether we gave him an opportunity or not was always going to come down to how he applied himself at pre-season training and basically, from the get-go, the coaching staff was rapt in what he brought to each session.

"So he's a good fit. We were in need of an outside back and that's been borne out by the fact he's playing NRL and we have only played six games. I'm really happy for him."

Adam O'Brien reckons Musgrove could easily be a throwback to the great Hawthorn Aussie Rules sides of the 1980's.

"Just his big physique, his ability in the air, his look.....he wouldn't look out of place alongside Dermott Brereton or the big Dipper [Robert DiPierdomenico] in that Hawthorn side of the 80's," the Knights coach said.

"He's a local boy who has worked hard and deserved his shot."

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