Newcastle Knights five-eighth Jarrod Mullen has called on the advice of teammate Clint Newton in a bid to recover from his injured hamstring in time for the opening round of the NRL season.
Mullen, who tore his left hamstring late in the first half of the Club’s Auckland Nines quarter-final loss to Brisbane on Sunday, reveals he has followed Newton's recommendation to extensively ice the injury in the first 48 hours.
Newton has suffered a number of hamstring injuries throughout his 13-year career and was first on hand with some insider tips for his playmaker.
As a result Mullen had a sleepless Sunday night icing his hamstring, while he'll have scans on Tuesday to determine the full extent of damage.
The Knights' star will miss this Saturday's trial against Canberra in Tamworth, but remains hopeful of taking his place in the Club's line-up for round one against Penrith on March 8.
"I iced it (the hamstring) up pretty much all of last night, so I didn’t get much sleep," Mullen said on a arrival back in Newcastle on Monday afternoon.
"I actually got some advice from Clint Newton that he did it (the hamstring) a few years ago and he stayed up all night icing it.
"He said the first 48 hours are critical.
"So I did all that last night and it’s feeling alright today, but I won’t know more until I get the scans tomorrow morning.
"I’ll know the extent of it then and how long we are sort of looking at.
"But I’m still positive for round one."
Newcastle may have been bundled out in the quarter-final stages against Brisbane, but Mullen is adamant the players did themselves proud at the inaugural Auckland Nines tournament.
The 26-year-old says the Club learnt plenty about the new fast-paced concept and admits they'll be better for the experience next year.
"We had to open the whole tournament and we sort of didn’t know what we were doing out there," he says.
"But then we got the hang of it after watching a few games and seeing what everyone else was doing.
"We were playing some good nines footy towards the end there, so I was pretty gutted to bail out.
"Hopefully we can go better next year.”
Mullen says he thoroughly enjoyed the Auckland Nines and is happy the event will be around for at least another three years.
"It was a great atmosphere," he says.
"They put on a real good show over in Auckland and I’m glad it’s here for another three years with the option of five.
"The crowd were buzzing the whole time and everyone dressed up and had a good time, so it was like one big party.
"It was also good to get away with the team and get some bonding before the season starts."
