Mitch Henderson looking to take next step in his pursuit of NRL dream

The recently-graduated teen has moved down in Newcastle and is putting in the hard yards hoping to win a spot in the Knights' SG Ball squad for their upcoming campaign, which is slated to kick-off next month.

It is an exciting time, albeit a slightly uncertain one with the current climate, but Henderson is remaining optimistic.

READ ALSO:

"I'm a pretty hopeful guy, I like to stay positive so I'm hoping everything this year will go ahead which makes me very excited," he said.

His appetite for what lies ahead was whet at the end of the last year.

The day after he sat his final exam Henderson moved down to Newcastle to start training with the Knights.

Training with the main squad, he admitted to a few moments of awe in the early stages.

"My first couple of days there you're training with the top guys, guys like Kalyn Ponga and [Tyson] Frizell and you're thinking oh wow, just passing a ball to them is pretty cool," he said.

"But then once you get into it and you've been there for a month you just get used to playing with them day-in, day-out."

It was an "awesome" experience, and one Henderson gained a lot from.

Asked what the biggest thing he took away was, he replied "how hard you need to work to make it".

"Once you get to that level it's really down to hard work," he said.

Everyone there is equally as talented.

It was a hard slog, and for Henderson quite eye-opening.

"You go from a couple of hour sessions three times a week to getting there and it's five days a week, and you're getting there at seven in the morning and leaving in the afternoon," he said.

He is though feeling the fittest he ever has.

Conscious of giving himself more options in life than just footy, Henderson will juggle his footy commitments with studying a secondary PE teaching degree at Newcastle Uni.

"Footy's a pretty hard thing to make a living off so I've got to have another plan, another option," he said.

Before he finished up at Farrer, the multi-talented sportsman added one final accolade to his long list, picking up the Service Award for the North West School Sports Association.

Very much a surprise, it was a nice way to finish what was a memorable part of his school days.

"I was pretty grateful to receive the award," Henderson said.

First going away for North West when he was in Year 4 - with the PSSA rugby league side - over the ensuing years Henderson represented the zone in seven sports - swimming, athletics, soccer, rugby league, rugby union, touch and cricket - going on to achieve higher honours in both league and union, and athletics.

Before the footy codes started to dominate his sporting sphere, he was a hurdler of some note, medalling at CHS, and NSW and Australian All Schools championships.

On the footy field he suited up for the NSW open primary and under-15s league teams, and was selected in the NSW All Schools 16s and opens rugby union sides.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: