Connor Watson admits he’s happy to go wherever he’s needed for the team when the nib Newcastle Knights come up against the Canberra Raiders on Sunday.
The 21-year-old utility started Round 1 against the Manly Sea Eagles in the number six and was then cover for Slade Griffin in the hooker role, before moving to centre to fill in for Sione Mata'utia.
“I talked to Browny (Nathan Brown) before the game and he said he was going to put Lamby (Brock Lamb) on if Slade (Griffin) needed a rest and I would go into nine, which I have done a lot of in my career,” Watson explained.
“I’m prepared to move around for the team and I’m happy to do that.”
The 2018 recruit is keen on locking down the five-eighth role to start games but has no problems moving to hooker if need be.
“I’m starting there, so that’s what I wanted to do, to start in that jumper, but for the team’s sake, if I need to move into nine for a period of time, I’m happy to do that,” Watson said.
“I was happy in hooker last week and I was fortunate I didn’t have to do too much tackling because we had a lot of the ball (at that stage)."
Watson is expecting if he moves into hooker this week he will be a target for Canberra’s massive forward pack.
“Every time I have played hooker I have been run at a fair bit but it’s NRL, you can’t really hide out there in any position,” he laughed.
“It doesn’t matter whether you play nine or on the wing, you’re still going to have to make tackles.”
Despite Canberra’s Round 1 loss, Watson knows they won’t be an easy team to beat come Sunday.
“They started really well on the weekend but they really slipped up towards the end,” Watson commented.
“We all know how talented and big their pack is and they’ve got a really great football side.
“It’s a big challenge this weekend down in Canberra but I’m looking forward to it.”
Ironing out a few early round issues in the halves this week, Watson expects he and Mitchell Pearce will forge a strong combination together in the six and seven.
“We have played together for a couple of years so there’s a combination there, but we’ve still go to build on it,” admitted Watson.
“Mitch and I spoke about it before the game last week and said that if we hold the ball and keep possession, we can go a long way to winning these early games.
“Those combinations in the first few rounds take a while to build and all we have to do is go out there and complete.”
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