KNIGHTS back-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon insists he wants to remain a one-club player as his manager explores offers from rival clubs.
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Fitzgibbon - Newcastle's longest-serving current player after debuting in round 21, 2015 - is off contract at the end of the season and the Knights are reported to have offered him a two-year deal.
But his agent has been pursuing other options, which would suggest the former South Newcastle junior is not completely satisfied with the package his home-town club have tabled.
"It's in my manager's hands at the moment, but obviously I want to stay," Fitzgibbon told the Newcastle Herald.
"It is what it is, I guess. We've been through a bit of a tough period, but hopefully on the back of a few wins we can get something sorted, because I want to hang around."
The first three seasons of Fitzgibbon's NRL career coincided with three wooden spoons, but he survived that daunting initiation to become a regular in Newcastle's starting 13, scoring 26 tries in 86 top-grade games.
"I've been through the hard years so I wouldn't want to leave, now that we're coming into the good years," he said.
"I want to stick it out. I've been at the club for seven or eight years now and consider myself a Newcastle boy, through and through.
"You look at blokes like Chief [Paul Harragon], they had to do it tough for a long time but got to win a grand final in their home town, which was a really special thing."
The 27-year-old's cause was not helped by off-season surgeries to repair his groin and shoulder, which meant he was not available for NRL selection until the round-nine win against Canberra.
He had a mixed game in last week's 10-6 win against the Warriors, producing two early handling errors and spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin for a high tackle, as well as crashing over for a crucial try.
"It was a tough start for me, in trying conditions," Fitzgibbon said.
"My first two touches were dropped balls. We had to be smart with the footy and I had to improve my ball-handling.
"I think in the second half we changed our mindset from trying to go around them and started to go through them.
"We started to make some inroads."
He had no complaints about his sin-binning, even though Warriors playmaker Kodi Nikorima was clearly slipping into the tackle.
He pleaded guilty to a careless high tackle and copped a $1700 fine.
"It's obviously the way the NRL is heading at the moment," Fitzgibbon said.
"Any contact to the head, whether they slip or whether they're standing, is going to be 10 in the bin.
"We've got to allow for that and adjust our tackle technique, or you're going to be off the field.
"I had to sit down for 10 minutes, but the resolve in our defence while I was off was obviously very pleasing.
"It was crucial to hold them out, and the boys did that."