It's taken longer than most expected, but Melbourne's Jack Howarth is finally starting to reach his potential.
The former Australian Schoolboys star is receiving high praise from coach Craig Bellamy, who says the young star is reaping the rewards of his labour as he has taken pre-season training “more seriously” than ever before.
There has been much talk about Howarth's development being slower than expected after signing a lucrative five-year contract reportedly worth $500,000 per season and having to wait until the final round in 2023 for his long-awaited debut due to persistent injuries.
Shoulder problems hampered his development. Howarth has played mainly for Sunshine Coast in the Queensland Cup over the past four seasons, while his teammates made their mark with the Schoolboys in the NRL.
It is almost five years since he started in the back row of an Australian schoolboys team that also included Origin stars Reece Walsh and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Roosters half Sam Walker.
All three scored against New Zealand that day, as did Howarth, who was named man of the match in a star-studded team.
Howarth has taken longer than his former teammates to get into his stride but is expected to play his fifth consecutive game for the Storm on Saturday night.
“I think he's taken the preseason a little more seriously. I think he's been more committed,” Bellamy said.
“I hate to say this because it might not be true, but I'll say it anyway – I think he was on a pedestal because of his school football, because of his athleticism, his speed and his size.
“But maybe he didn't work as hard as he could have. I think in this pre-season he realised that if I want to play in the first division, I have to work a bit harder than I do.
“When he works hard, that ability comes out more often on the field and that's what happened this year. There are still a few things he needs to work really hard on tactically, but you can see the damage he can do with the ball.
“If he continues to work hard, the world will be his oyster.”
Howarth described the recent opportunities as “unreal”, with the striker happy to be given a chance in midfield after initially being told he would need to play more as a support player given they have established stars such as Eliesa Katoa and Shawn Blore in the back row.
Despite being so young, Howarth admitted that he needs to change his perception and that this can only be done by cancelling summer holidays, focusing on his diet and showing Bellamy that he deserves a place in the top 17.
“I left school with high expectations, but the successive injuries during preseason left me on the defensive a lot. I don't know if I coped well with that,” he said.
“I was supposed to have shoulder surgery, but I didn't have it because I wanted to be fit for the preseason, as I had already played a lot of games with aches and pains from the previous year.
“I was able to come into this pre-season fit and get through everything. Craig is a firm believer that if you have a good pre-season you will have a good year. He told me to take my chance when I get it and that gave me a lot of confidence.
“I wanted to make sure I put my best foot forward and try to impress Craig and change his perspective on me so that I wasn't just there to do routine work.”
While dealing with the disappointment of not being selected for most of 2023, Howarth also had to deal with off-field innuendo about his attitude and potential conflicts with the coaching staff that he said simply weren't true.
“I've coped pretty well because I have really good support, especially here at the club with the management group who have assured me that they would like to have me in the team,” he said.
“That helped me during the time when a lot of people were wondering what was going on because not a lot of information was released about why I wasn't playing. So people started making their own assumptions, which can easily happen.
“The people at the club have assured me that my time will come and I'm just trying to master my role and make this position mine.”