KNIGHTS rising star Peter Mata'utia thought the biggest week of his life occurred last July when he won the club's most prestigious junior award within days of representing Australian Schoolboys.
But the 18-year-old goal-kicking fullback or winger reckons the past few days will take some topping.
A day after being named in a 22-man first-grade squad to play the Storm in a pre-season trial in Melbourne tomorrow, Mata'utia agreed to terms on Wednesday to an upgraded and extended contract that secures his future with the Knights until the end of 2011.
His retention comes within a few days of the Knights extending the contracts of first-graders Cory Paterson for three more years and Junior Sau for another two.
"It was a big surprise," Mata'utia said.
"Late last year I signed for two years, for this year and next year, then they came out with an upgrade for next year and an extra year for 2011. That seems like the club might think something about me, so I must be doing something right."
In July last year, Mata'utia won the Carlson Club-Andrew Johns Medal as the club's outstanding 17-year-old but he could not attend the club's junior presentation to receive the award because he was in Townsville with the Australian Schoolboys.
"That was a real big honour, winning that, and playing Australian Schoolboys was a great experience too. But this week is probably right up there as one of the highlights of my footy career so far," he said.
"I didn't really expect to even train with the first-grade squad full-time. That came along and I was just happy to do that, and now I've got a chance to play with the big boys this Saturday."
After completing his SG Ball (under-18s) commitments with the Knights last year, Mata'utia finished the season playing in the National Youth Competition with the under 20s.
That is where he will most likely spend most of this season, but Knights coach Brian Smith will give him and fellow project players Byron Fruean and Simon Williams a chance to experience first-grade football against the might of the Storm tomorrow.
"With Gids [Kurt Gidley] and Wes [Naiqama] and James McManus and those sort of players, the Knights have a lot of good backs and Gids doesn't get injured that much," he said.
"My main goal is to at least play one game in the NRL this year, but also to do my best and play as many games as I can with the under 20s. I prefer fullback but I'll play wherever coach wants me to."
Of Samoan heritage, Mata'utia was born in Bankstown in 1990 then moved to Raymond Terrace in 2003, playing two years of juniors with the Magpies before joining the Knights.
Apart from playing Australian Schoolboys and NSW Combined High Schools, he and Knights teammate Liam Higgins represented NSW under 18s against Queensland in the curtain-raiser to the second State of Origin game in Brisbane last June.
Mata'utia completed year 12 at Hunter Sports High last year and has three younger brothers Chanel, Pat and Sione still at the school. His siblings are all centres and two have already followed him into the Knights' junior ranks.
Fifteen-year-old Pat is in Newcastle's Harold Matthews (under-16) side and was selected last year in the Australian 15-years merit side after representing NSW CHS at the national championships in Brisbane.
Sixteen-year-old Chanel will play SG Ball for the Knights this year and 12-year-old Sione will line up for South Newcastle in the domestic junior competition.
