The Cessnock Goannas junior and 2016 Australian Schoolboys representative had spent a couple of seasons in and around Newcastle's NRL squad, but no matter how hard he trained, the first-grade opportunity he coveted seemed out of reach.

A glimmer of hope emerged when new Knights coach Adam O'Brien took him to the 2020 Perth Nines, during which he crashed over to score a try against the Warriors after a pass from one of his childhood heroes, Kurt Gidley.

Three months later he made his NRL debut off the bench, racking up 50 tackles in a memorable 14-all draw with Penrith at Campbelltown. A further six games followed last year, which was enough to earn a one-season contract extension.

But it was probably not until round six this year, when the 23-year-old back-rower produced an inspirational showing as stopgap centre in a 26-22 victory against Cronulla, that his full potential became apparent.

He has now played in 12 games this season, the past three in the starting side, and picked up the match-sealing try in last week's 10-6 win against the Warriors.

It's been enough for O'Brien to acknowledge that retaining the local junior beyond the end of this season is a priority.

"We've already started those negotiations," O'Brien said. "We won't be letting Brodie go."

That will come as music to Jones' ears, because ever since he can remember, all he wanted was to wear the red and blue.

"That's my No.1 goal, to stay, so hopefully that's how it all works out," he said.

"My manager is looking after that and he says it's all looking positive. Hopefully we get it all sorted. I'm a local junior, and it's my home-town club, so I want to be here as long as I can."

Jones admits "there was a stage in my life where I doubted myself", but those memories appear to be fast fading.

"The more minutes I play, the more confident I get," he said. "The last few weeks I've played the whole 80 pretty much, and I'm feeling more confident and comfortable in myself. I believe that I can do what needs to be done, but there's still areas I want to improve."

While his breakout game against Cronulla remains a career highlight, scoring the decisive try against the Warriors was also a thrill ... and a relief.

"I'd made a couple of errors and was a bit down on myself, so to help us get a win was a nice feeling," he said.

"It's hard to compare them, but I think against Cronulla I played a more complete game."