And as much as it frustrates the 21-year-old back-rower that he is yet to make his NRL debut, he says having to earn it the hard way will make it all the more meaningful.

"Personally, in my head, I would like to have made it already," Jones said.

"I've hit a few road bumps, I suppose, and a couple of times there I've perhaps lost a bit of self-belief and hope in myself.

"But I'm back in there ripping in, in a much better head space.

"I'd much rather it be tough than a walk-in. I want it to be tough. I like the challenge.

"I want to work for it, because that's how it should be."

The Cessnock junior and 2016 Australian Schoolboys representative has some quality senior players occupying the spots he hopes to eventually fill.

Last season Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Mitch Barnett played 21 games apiece in the back row, Sione Mata'utia was used 14 times in the starting side and eight times off the bench, and veterans Aidan Guerra (12 games) and Jamie Buhrer (nine) were also in the mix.

At the end of the season, Jones could easily have figured there might be more opportunity at another club, but incoming coach Adam O'Brien made it obvious he saw a future for him in Newcastle.

"That's how I look at it," Jones said. "Hopefully come round one I might get a look-in. If not, I'll go back and try to play well in Reggies and keep chipping away and hopefully a door opens."

Having recently bought his first house, in East Maitland, he did not take much convincing to stay local.

"I wasn't really fussed on looking around," he said.

"I sat down and talked to my manager and said this is where I want to be, within reason. I've grown up here, and played for the Knights since I was 15 or 16. This is where I want to play first-grade football, if possible."

Jones is doing everything he can physically to make that happen. Powerfully built at 103 kilograms and 1.83 metres, he has been assured by the club's conditioning staff that his body-mass composition is the best it has been since he started training with the full-time squad, as an 18-year-old.

Senior forward Tim Glasby described Jones as "your no-frills back-rower" with an impressive work ethic.

"He's a good young player and I'm looking forward to seeing whate he can do in the NRL this year," Glasby said.

After initially kicking off his sporting career with Cessnock soccer club Bellbird, Jones jokes that he was "too slow and too big" for the round-ball code.

He switched to league in under-nines and now hopes to follow an illustrious line of former Goannas, including Andrew and Matthew Johns and Billy Peden, into Newcastle's top team.

"That's my ultimate goal, so hopefully it all works out," he said.