Pumba
John Morris
Proud & Passionate
MADIE FITZPATRICK
Joel Burraston
If Joel Burraston started to bleed on the field, it wouldn’t just be red. It’d also be blue. The son of the Knights’ CEO, Steve Burraston, is passionate about the Newcastle Knights. The Valentine Devils junior moved from Sydney at the age of four and began playing league the very next year. He has always wanted to play for Newcastle, and reckons it’s nearly impossible not to aspire to that dream when growing up in a city that loves footy.
He remembers how his dad used to coach at various levels at the Knights when he was a little boy. Burraston often got to go along to training and was also a ball boy for seven years. “I’d go to training and Andrew Johns would be there,” he said, still sounding a tad awestruck. Spending last year in Sydney helped to reaffirm his love of Newcastle. He played Jersey Flegg for the North Sydney Bears and even had a game in Premier League. Despite that opportunity, he always wanted “to come back to Newcastle. “It was different [in Sydney], very different,” he said. “I just wanted to come home.” This season, he scored a contract with the Knights to play in the newly-formed Toyota Cup, which replaced Jersey Flegg.
Having played in both Flegg and the Toyota Cup, Burraston thinks the Toyota Cup is a “much better comp”. “It’s a much stronger competition.” “You can play against Melbourne and New Zealand. “There’s some strong clubs coming out of Queensland too.” Burraston would know, having travelled to Townsville recently to play against the Cowboys. He played in the opening round loss to the Raiders and the coach, Trent Robinson, took him aside after the match. “After the first round, the coach wanted me to work on a few things to get back into the side,” Burraston said. “I trained really hard and he gave me a shot,” he said.
The under-20s competition is designed to better prepare footballers not only for first-grade, but also for life outside football. This has meant players must either be enrolled in study or be working, as well as playing football. Burraston is studying a business diploma at TAFE as well as helping out with the family business. The Burrastons own two restaurants in Warners Bay. “I just do a little bit of everything, whatever needs to be done,” he said. He has carried this flexibility onto the field. Burraston’s preferred position is halfback, but he also plays hooker and five-eighth. However the first grade squad already boasts the likes of Jarrod Mullen, Scott Dureau and Luke Walsh jostling for position in the halves.
With Danny Buderus and Chris Bailey leaving the club next season, Burraston is thinking beyond the positions occupied by those wearing the numbers six and seven. “If the coach said tomorrow to play for Newcastle, you need to play in a different spot - whether it was hooker, five-eighth or even wing - I’d do anything out of position to play for the Knights,” he said. And if determination counts for anything, this young bloke - who reckons that doing whatever needs to be done is what one has to do - has a chance of realising his dream.
From Inside The Castle.