Instantly, the shattered 23-year-old knew he wasn't in the Sharks' long-term plans. But seven months on, as he readies himself for the start of pre-season training at the Newcastle Knights, it would now take something out of the box to wipe the smile off his face.

"I could look back on this in 10 years time and hopefully see it as a huge turning point in my career and my life as well,"Brailey told the Newcastle Herald yesterday.

"I already love this place, it's a beautiful spot and I think I've been handed a great opportunity here at the Knights to really develop as a player and a person so I'm going to give it my absolute all. I don't think I could have picked a better club to be honest. It's a great roster, a great town with great support and a great lifestyle. I seriously can't get the smile off my face and I'm just really keen to work hard, keen to learn and take my game to the next level."

Brailey, who remains really tight with his brother, grew up in the Shire and debuted for the Sharks in the NRL in 2017 after being crowned Holden Cup Under 20's player of the year the previous season. He was a Roosters fan as a kid but the dream was always to play for Cronulla. Problem was, his brother shared the same passion for the club.

"We always knew the time would come when one of us would have to go given the position we both played," Brailey said. "But to be honest, I probably didn't see myself as the one because I had another year left at the Sharks and Blayke was off contract. It's more than just a game to me, more than a job. It's everything to me so I took it really hard. I was really upset, I was angry and I wasn't sure what was going to happen so there was confusion.

"But I was pretty quick to sort out my future and it was a no-brainer coming here to Newcastle and to be honest now, it doesn't faze me one bit. I moved on from it pretty quick and used it as motivation. Now, I can't express how excited I am."

While he was enticed to the club by ex-coach Nathan Brown, he has already sat down for a coffee with Adam O'Brien and can't wait to start work alongside the likes of Mitchell Pearce and Kalyn Ponga during pre-season training.

As for going head-to-head with his brother next season, it was the first thing he looked for when the draw was released on Tuesday.

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