2017 was a massive year for Luke Yates with his NRL debut in Round 1, and the local junior is now looking to come back even stronger in 2018.
The start of the season may still be three months away, but the young forward is aiming to be selected to play in Round 1.
“That's all I want to be doing,” Yates told Knights TV.
“I'll keep getting fitter, keep doing my gym stuff... just keep doing what I’ve been doing.
“There's good competition, it's going to make me better so I'm looking forward to it.”
Unfortunately for the 22-year-old, he missed the last two matches of 2017 with an ankle injury that required surgery.
But he has continued to progress well this pre-season after being forced to have a slower start.
There's good competition, it's going to make me better so I'm looking forward to it.
Luke Yates
“It's been a pretty tough pre-season with my ankle reconstruction, so I’m more or less trying to get back to where I was,” Yates explained.
“For about the first two and a half weeks, I was doing modified training and building up my loads and my ankle probably wasn’t right... but now I’ve had several weeks of actually being in the full squad and it’s good."
Yates has been taking some cues from both new and old teammates.
“Aidan Guerra has been pretty good, he’s been very vocal with us young boys, helping us out and making sure we are doing all the right things,” Yates maintained.
“He's a good role model to have here and we have Jamie Buhrer as well who is another one, so it has been good."
