Why Knights forward Jack Hetherington is playing the long game

Before he joined the Newcastle Knights at the end of last season, Hetherington appeared a young man in a hurry.

He'd bounced around between three clubs - Penrith, the Warriors and Canterbury - and played the game at such a frantic pace that seven offences in the first 38 games of his NRL career had led to suspensions.

A shoulder reconstruction that cut short his final year at the Bulldogs added to the theory Newcastle had taken a gamble on signing the towering forward to a three-season contract.

Yet slowly but surely, the 27-year-old is starting to show why Canterbury football manager and prominent commentator Phil Gould once described him as an "elite" talent.

He hasn't missed a game this season, and while some of his appearances have been cameos, his 34-minute contribution off the bench in last week's 66-0 slaughter of the Bulldogs delivered 113 attacking metres, a line break, three offloads and a dozen tackles.

"It's been a bit of a slow burn for me personally," Hetherington told the Newcastle Herald.

"In a perfect world, I'd have liked more minutes, but I had a really interrupted pre-season, which led to to a slow start to the year.

"But I'm fully fit now, so onwards and upwards from here."

After dislocating his shoulder playing for Canterbury in March last year, the former Valentine-Eleebana junior spent months in and out of a sling before linking with the Knights.

"I went in for the normal [reconstructive] procedure, but it failed," he said.

"There were a few complications. So I went in for a second time to clean it up, and we still weren't satisfied after the second surgery.

"So I went in again, and fortunately the third time it was successful and I haven't had any dramas with it since.

"It feels really strong now, so I'm happy with it."

Hetherington has averaged only 27 minutes per game this season, which Knights coach Adam O'Brien said recently was a "reflection of his summer".

"Jack doesn't complain about that stuff," O'Brien said last month. "He understands that he had a really limited summer ... but he's heading in the right direction."

Other than a sin-binning two weeks ago against Penrith, Hetherington has managed to avoid the attention of the authorities and string together the longest stretch of consecutive games in his career.

Asked if he had made any adjustments to his tackling technique or aggressive approach, he replied: "Not really. All the ones I've got pinged for, I've just been unlucky."

He denied feeling like he had a point to prove against Canterbury, the club who moved him on with a year to run on his contract.

"They obviously didn't want me," he said. "I don't take it personally. It's just business at the end of the day. It is what it is."

Meanwhile, Knights football director Peter Parr says the club remains hopeful of re-signing NSW Origin star Tyson Frizell, who is off contract and weighing up offers from rival NRL and Super League clubs.

Newcastle have reportedly struck a deal with South Sydney forward Jed Cartwright.

The 26-year-old shapes as a potential replacement if incumbent Knights back-rowers Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Brodie Jones and Jack Johns are not retained.

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