Brock Lamb says he can focus solely on playing rugby league after signing a three-year deal with the Newcastle Knights.
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The 17-year-old West Maitland junior renewed his contract with the NRL club this week and said he was relieved to finalise the details before the season kicked off.
“It takes a lot of pressure off,” Lamb said.
“I can just concentrate on playing footy now.”
Lamb has progressed through the Knights’ representative ranks and this latest agreement will take him to the end of 2017.
“It’s definitely good to stay local,” Lamb said.
“The Knights is where I want to be.”
Five-eighth Lamb will once again team up with long-time halves partner Jack Cogger, the Knights having signed the No.7 for a further two seasons.
“That was part of the plan,” Lamb said.
“We have played a lot of football together and now we get to keep doing that.”
It is a move that pleases Knights under 20s coach Tony Pezet, who will have the services of both players at his disposal in 2015 when the National Youth Competition starts in March.
“Brock and Jack have not only come through the grades together at the Knights and at rep level, but they are good mates that complement each other very well on the field,” Pezet said on the Knights’ website.
“I know they are looking forward to a big year and building on their strong finish to 2014.”
Knights director of football Michael Hagan agreed.
“We are really pleased to secure both Brock and Jack for the next few years,” Hagan said.
“They have progressed well through our system and it was a priority to retain the two of them.”
Lamb and Cogger recently returned from a European tour with the Australian Schoolboys, which included a win and a loss against their English opponents.
Lamb was named man-of-the-match in the opening Test.
“It was unreal,” Lamb said.
“The footy was a lot tougher than I expected and seeing the other side of the world was great.”
Lamb and Cogger have been in Sydney this week as part of the under-18 NSW State of Origin pathways training camp.
Coming up Lamb, who has been guided by the Knights’ top grade kicking coach recently, has an under 20s trial match with Newcastle against Canterbury at Belmore.
