HE'S not sure if his trademark mullet will go after playing in Saturday's SG Ball grand final, but when it comes to who will win Myles Martin is in no doubt.
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The former St Pat's junior is adamant the Newcastle side he captains will get the better of Parramatta.
"We are winning, one hundred percent," Martin said.
While he's currently in his second season with the Knights' SG Ball side and prior to that lined up for Parramatta in the Harold Matthews Cup, Martin played most of his junior rugby league in Bathurst.
He won five Group 10 Junior Rugby League premierships with St Pat's as part of a playing group that included his brother Blake, Ash Cosgrove, Josh Belfanti and Tyler Colley.
It's a haul the hard running lock with the long flowing locks would love to add to.
"I was on the bench for Flegg last year, I lost a grand final at Parramatta when I was playing there. I won a heap of grand finals in Bathurst, but nothing up here," he said.
"I won like six or something when I played juniors for Pat's.
"We've got one more to go this year, so we'll see how we go."
As a player who was head-hunted by the Knights, Martin has been embraced by the Newcastle community.
His mullet has made him a cult figure, but it might end up going after Saturday's decider at Leichhardt Oval.
"There's a lot of brushing, a lot of drying and I get sick of it. I was going to cut it off the other day, but I thought I better keep it for the grand final," he laughed
"We'll have to see what happens after the grand final, I don't know if I'll keep it yet.
"But it's great being in Newcastle, it's a great vibe around the town with everyone telling you how good it is to be in there in a grand final, there's us and the Harold Matts too. It's unreal."
The Knights finished the regular season in third position, which meant they were drawn to face defending premiers Penrith in last week's semi-final.
While the Panthers scored two tries in the first 20 minutes of that game, Myles and his fellow Knights lifted, took the lead late in the second half and held on to win 10-8.
"One hundred percent I thought we could win. We lost to them during the season, but we came back for another shot at them in the finals, we knew we could beat them and had the team for it," Martin said.
"We started a bit slow, but we came back and our defence saved the day.
"It was probably the hardest game we'd had all season, but I had trust in the boys to do it and we came through."
That victory means Martin now has the chance to captain a premiership winning side.
Not surprisingly he's hungry to seize that chance, but the message he will stress at training this week is for his fellow Knights to treat it as any other game.
"I've captained a few times before, but this is probably the biggest side I've captained," he said.
"I feel like this is another step in my career, I can pick up my level, and I'm up for the challenge.
"I'm just trying to treat it as a normal week, treat it as normal as possible, there's just a bit more meaning at the end.
"That will be the talk around training, just treat it normal, chill out and play our footy on Saturday."
Saturday's grand final will be the first time this season that the Knights have met the Eels.
While Parramatta will be full of confidence after upsetting minor premiers Canberra in the semis, Martin is backing his side to win the decider.
"If we get our start right we should be fine. We know we're playing great footy, but once we kick off we just need to start right," he said.
Regardless of the outcome of Saturday's grand final, Myles is aiming to play more games for Newcastle this season in Jersey Flegg or the NSW Cup.
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