Settled Mullo keen to lead club revival
BY BRETT KEEBLE
17 Nov, 2010 01:00 AM
HE is only 23 and his coach says he still has a lot to learn but Jarrod Mullen reckons he is finally ready to take on more responsibility and become a leader of the rebuilding Knights.
The one-time wonder boy, who made his NRL debut at 18 in 2005 and has played 100 games for the club, confirmed yesterday that he had signed a new three-year contract that will keep him in Newcastle until the end of 2014.
With his future secured for the next four years, Mullen wants to become a mentor to the club's crop of talented young players, make the No.7 jersey his own - a role he has been earmarked for since Andrew Johns retired in April 2007 - and realise his potential to help the Knights win a premiership under coach Rick Stone.
"I'm very excited about the future for the Knights," Mullen said.
"I think we've signed well, I've had a few chats with Stoney about it and I like where the club's heading and the players they want to get to the club . . . I wouldn't be signing long-term if I didn't think the club was headed in the right direction.
"It's everyone's dream to win a comp and I think we showed enough in the last six to eight weeks of last season to show that we are a force in the NRL.
"If we can keep that consistency there, I know we're going to be a force next year. Firstly, the goal is to make the top eight next year but the ultimate goal is to win a comp and all the boys are heading in the right direction.
"If they keep writing us off, that's even better for us. We know we've got the team here to do it and we've got belief in ourselves that we can do it."
Despite attracting interest from several rival NRL clubs, Mullen said his priority was always to sign again with the Knights. He was pleased to settle the deal in the off-season.
"It's good to go into next season with a clear head, knowing where you are for the next three or four years, and you can plan a few things . . . and obviously my family and all my friends are here, so it was the best decision for me and my family," he said.
Mullen has no plans to unseat Kurt Gidley as captain but feels comfortable as his deputy and can envisage a time when he follows in the footsteps of former leaders such as Johns, Paul Harragon, Danny Buderus, Mark Sargent and Tony Butterfield.
"Gids is doing a great job there but if he retires or moves on, I'd like to pick it up but [until then] I've still got to be a leader here on and off the field. This club has had so many great captains . . . so if I can captain this team, it would be a great honour," he said.
Since being heralded as Johns's heir apparent from the time he broke into the NRL, the playmaker has bounced between five-eighth and halfback and has not always achieved the consistency for which he has strived.
But he spent most of the final third of last season at first receiver, even in games when he was listed at five-eighth and Gidley at halfback, and that form has convinced Stone to give him first crack at No.7 next year.
"It's not easy coming in as Joey's successor - he's a one in a lifetime player - but I've got to be my own player; play my own role in the team . . . I got a bit more ownership of the team in those last six to eight weeks," Mullen said.
"I know it wasn't ideal but it took me that long to sort of figure out my role in the side.
"I think it was a pivotal moment when they switched me to halfback. I got to touch the ball a lot more and take control of the team and when Gids came in at five-eighth, it helped the team a lot. With Beau Henry and Ben Rogers there, who knows what they're going to do but hopefully I can cement a spot at halfback.
". . . I get my hands on the ball a lot more, I can control the team a lot more and as a senior player in the team, you need to do that, so halfback's probably looking like my best position."
Stone, who has overseen Mullen's progress since arriving at the end of 2005 as assistant coach, said the Singleton-born Taree junior was still developing.
"He was just a young kid when I got here and his body was adjusting to full-time training and at times, like most young blokes, he was a bit disappointed when things didn't always go his way," he said.
"But I've seen Mullo grow out of that and be able to handle adversity and different bumps in the road and bounce back from them a bit better and show a little bit more consistency in his game - particularly at the back end of last season . . .
"There's still a little bit more to come with Mullo and I think you'll see that every year. At this particular stage, I'm comfortable with where he's at but there's still a way to go for Jarrod and I think we'll all get the benefit from this period of him being at the club for another four years.
"We'd like to see him improve . . . each year so by the time he comes off again at the end of 2014, you'd think he'll be the type of player that will just about be skipper of the club."
