But having come off the bench and played a combined 69 minutes during the opening two rounds in March, the former Queensland representative found it hard to turn down a mid-season offer from the Newcastle Knights.

McCullough, who debuted for the Broncos in 2008 and featured in the 2015 grand final, said a chance to wear the No.9 jersey again under Knights coach Adam O'Brien and alongside captain Mitchell Pearce helped with his decision to join the Hunter outfit and leave the only NRL club he'd known.

"I guess I just needed to get out of my comfort zone and do that," McCullough said after his first training session with his new teammates at Wests Mayfield on Monday.

"I felt like there was an opportunity there to do that and if Adam's choice was for me to play more minutes then I'll do that.

"To defend really well and give some good service to Pearcy and do my best but opportunity, more minutes I think can only help.

"Whatever that may be. Forty, fifty [minutes], whatever it may be. To be honest I'm just happy to put a jersey back on and get some more minutes."

The deal was announced on Thursday, just one week out from the competition resuming post a coronavirus-forced hiatus for two months.

McCullough, who has signed at Newcastle for the rest of this year with first-choice rake Jayden Brailey now injured on the sidelines, finds himself straight in the selection mix to play against Penrith at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday.

The Knights squad will get named on Tuesday with rookie Chris Randall and versatile Connor Watson the other main dummy-half options.

Whatever way it goes, 30-year-old, 260-game veteran McCullough said he looked forward to linking up with pivot Pearce and fullback Kalyn Ponga out in the middle.

"When you get asked to take an opportunity like this you do look at the roster, I think every player does that," he said.

"Those guys [Pearce, Ponga] have being a tremendous job for Newcastle for a couple of years and it's exciting.

"You've got to feel for Jayden Brailey, he's worked extremely hard and the poor fellow has done his ACL ... I've been in that position before and it's never fun. I'll try and lend a bit of advice to him about how to deal with that and the best way to do that. I'm sure I can try and help there.

"But I'm just coming in, trying to learn the plays, keeping it simple as best as possible and everything will sort of be easier the longer I stay here and gel with those boys."

As for watching the Broncos host Parramatta from afar on Thursday night: "To be honest I probably won't [watch it], just more so to keep myself away from football and keep all my energy here with the Knights."

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