Cessnock's Brayden Musgrove embraces fullback role in Newcastle RL

Musgrove, who played seven NRL games on the wing and made most of his 30 NSW Cup appearances at centre, has found himself wearing the No.1 jersey for the Goannas this year.

With regular custodian Harry O'Brien and new recruit Tony Pellow both sidelined with injury, Musgrove has overseen the positional switch go from temporary to more permanent during the course of 2023.

"It's not too bad. I get my hands on the ball a lot more, which is good, and it gets me more involved in the game. No tackling as well," Musgrove told the Newcastle Herald.

"I started off as a fullback when I was younger but in SG Ball I went into the centres, had a good year and sort of just stayed there.

"We lost both those guys [O'Brien, Pellow] and the way the team panned out, it just suited best for me to go to fullback rather than stay at centre."

Musgrove returned to his junior club in 2023 after a two-season stint at the Knights.

He helped the Goannas beat Souths in the 2020 decider following a COVID-impacted Newcastle RL campaign.

Saturday's preliminary final between the same sides will take place at Kurri Kurri Sportsground. Kick-off is 2pm.

Cessnock arrive having knocked out The Entrance (28-6) last weekend while Souths went down to minor premiers Maitland (24-22).

"We're pretty confident. Last week was one of the very few games this year we sort of put together an all-but 80-minute performance Everything just sort of clicked with out attack which is good," Musgrove said.

The Goannas lost to Souths (26-20) a fortnight ago in the qualifying semi-final at Townson Oval.