He owes much of his burgeoning success to his supportive Dungowan family.
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And now, on the cusp of one of the biggest games of his rugby league career, Mitchell Henderson said his recent move to the Raiders had been made easier by him living with a Canberran family.
The Raiders placed the No.7 - who will make his NSW Cup debut for the club against the Dragons in Wollongong on Friday night - with the family after he joined them mid-season from the Knights.
The family consists of a single mother and two teenage children. They have hosted several Raiders players. Naturally, they are Raiders fans.
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"I thought I'd be a bit homesick, or it would be too cold for me," Henderson, 20, said of the relocation to Canberra.
"But the cold isn't too bad, you get used to it pretty quick, and I'm living with this family - and the family are nice. It makes me feel like I'm at home, which I think has helped with all that anxious stuff."
Accordingly, the former NSW County under-18 representative said his nerves had "all just disappeared away in the background a bit".
"And, like, I'm feeling at home, I'm feeling good," he said, adding: "Lovely family, and they do a lot for me."
Henderson - whose father Peter would constantly drive him to and from Newcastle to train with and play for the Knights - was doing a teaching degree (secondary) at the University of Newcastle, with the view of becoming a PE teacher. He will continue the degree at a Canberra university next year.
Presently, Henderson - who had played in the halves for the Knights' Jersey Flegg side the past two seasons, with two NSW Cup appearances - is doing youth-support work in the capital, having done similar work in Newcastle. Shortly, he will again become a teacher's aide.
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