The famous Johns name starts a new chapter at the nib Newcastle Knights in 2017, as Matthew Johns’ eldest son Jack joins the Club’s NYC side.

19-year-old Jack has been playing for Sydney Shield side the Peninsula Seagulls, where he made 21 appearances, scored five tries and helped his team to within one match of the grand final in 2016.

Now he moves on to a new challenge at the Knights, a Club that he has supported since he was a child.

“We’re anticipating that Jack is going to play a lot of NYC football, and possibly push into reserve grade at some point,” Knights Elite Pathway Recruitment Manager Troy Pezet explained.

“He’s been playing men’s football all year.

“We spoke to Craig Gower (Seagulls head coach) who gave him a really strong recommendation, and having played around men and being mentored by a former half like Craig has really helped him develop.”

Capable of playing a number of positions, Jack spent the majority of 2016 at five-eighth, but also had three games at fullback.

“He’s a tall five-eighth or fullback that can cover a lot of positions for us, so that’s obviously going to help,” Pezet said.

“He’s handled the physicality of senior football this year so he’s not going to be intimidated playing against other 18 and 19-year-old boys.”

With the NYC squad’s pre-season underway Jack has commenced the next step in his football journey, and no doubt cannot wait until he can pull on the red and blue jersey in 2017.

“We actually looked at bringing him in half way through the 2016 season, but he made a commitment to the Seagulls and wanted to finish the season with Craig,” Pezet said.

“He was playing week-in and week-out in a senior football team, so we thought that would be best for his development.”