The Falcons are a feeder club to the Melbourne Storm with Mullen understood to have signed a one-year deal with the club as he bids to pull off an unlikely NRL comeback at the age of 33.

Mullen has been banned from the game since 2017 after testing positive for an anabolic steroid while at the Knights.

In February last year, he was sentenced to 300 hours of community service in a Newcastle court after pleading guilty to supplying cocaine back in 2018.

In a playing career at the Knights spanning 12 seasons, he captained the club and played 211 NRL games, scoring 39 tries.

But it all came crashing down around him when he tested positive to banned substance Drostanolone at pre-season training with the Knights back in November 2016. At the time, he was seeking treatment outside the club for a chronic hamstring injury.

His four year ban expires this week.