East Maitland junior Robbie Rochow says representative football is the furthest thing from his mind despite a strong start to the season for the Newcastle Knights.
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The 23-year-old backrower has been in good form despite the Knights’ disappointing start to the campaign.
Rochow has been named to come off the bench for Newcastle in Friday night’s clash with Brisbane at Hunter Stadium and said while he wants to play rep football in the future it is not on his current agenda.
“I haven’t thought about rep football at all yet,” he said.
“Obviously I’d love to play City-Country and represent at that level but I’ve got some work to do to get to that level.
“I don’t think I’ve played my best football just yet and I just need to keep improving.”
Rochow, who studies civil engineering at the University of Newcastle, said the team needed to carry on the momentum from their win in Canberra last week when they play the Broncos.
“We don’t get many Friday night games at home and it’s a good way to kick off the Easter weekend,” he said.
“We have to perform well and we’ve got to start winning some games for our fans.
“It’ll be nice for us too to play Friday night at home and have a weekend off, we don’t get too many of them.”
The Knights welcomed back halfback Jarrod Mullen last week and Rochow said his influence had already improved the team.
“It’s been great to have Mullo back,” he said.
“His kicking game takes the pressure off the forwards and he’s just got such a calm head.
“He’s just a really good player to have on your team, he gives us a lot more confidence.”
West Maitland junior Greg Bird will line up in the second row for the table-topping Gold Coast Titans when they play Penrith on Monday night.
The Titans skipper has been outstanding and another win on Monday will keep the Gold Coast at the summit.
