NSW Cup Newcastle Knights’ winger Kerrod Holland has certainly captured attention in the squad’s crusade to the preliminary final.
Featuring in just over a dozen games, the talented outside back has scored a phenomenal 15 tries and has stepped up as one of the team’s reliable and accurate goal kickers converting 41 of the Knights’ tries.
Hailing from Singleton, Holland began to turn heads playing with the Cessnock Goannas in the local Newcastle competition.
He burst onto the scene in Round 5 of the NSW Cup season kicking five of the Knights’ goals in the side’s Illawarra Cutters defeat.
“(I’ve learned) just to compete on everything and to never say die. You have to wait for your opportunities and take them with both hands when they come," Holland said.
Victory was sweet last week for the NSW Cup Knights against the 2015 reigning premiers with the men in red and blue asserting themselves 44-12 winners at Jubilee Oval.
While Holland wasn’t a part of last season’s Knights’ squad that was denied the grand final trophy by the Panthers, a strong desire for redemption was still felt throughout the playing group.
“It was good to get one back on the Panthers after they knocked us out of the grand final last year,” Holland said.
“It felt good, to get the win, and to proceed to the finals.”
If past encounters are anything to go by, Holland will be a reckoning force in attack against the minor premiers, the Mounties at Leichhartd Oval on Sunday in the preliminary final.
Holland scored a hat-trick playing on the right wing in the Knights’ Round 13 34-24 victory against their opponent at Hunter Stadium.
“It’s always a tough physical encounter with the Mounties,” Holland said.
“We got one over them at Hunter Stadium, so hopefully again, the same result would be nice.”
According to the 22-year-old, the key to continuing the team’s winning ways is a simple concept.
“Defence over the couple of finals games has won it for us and if we can continue that theme, we’ll go a long way to winning the game,” he said.
“If we continue on our defence, the way Matt (Lantry coach) has been drilling into us since Round one, we can go a long way in the competition and we thoroughly believe that.
Holland is proud of his progress since joining the Knights ranks in 2015 and counts every win with the team as a personal highpoint.
“The win last week and the final series have been two highlights,” he concluded.
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