Former Singleton Greyhound, Kerrod Holland is set to make his NRL debut on Thursday night for the Doggies.

The Hard-working Holland has been named in the centres for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Thursday night game against Penrith Panthers at Pepper Stadium.

Since joining the Bulldogs at the end of a stellar 2015 season playing for Newcaslte Knights in the NSW Cup, the determined 23-year-old’s sole focus has been on making the starting line up.

As getting to this point in his career, that is, becoming a full-time footballer, and realising a childhood dream, has not exactly been a straight forward process.

Although he has always had a burning desire to play in the NRL and the talent, Holland says growing up there were one or two things that did not go his way.

“When I was 16 years old I got my first opportunity, I was training with the Knights SG ball squad down in Newcastle three nights a week,” he told The Argus back in December.

“But I had started my first year as an electrical apprentice, was living in Singleton, and I did not have my licence, so it was hard to get to training relying on someone else all the time.”

So he made the sensible decision to concentrate on finishing his apprenticeship, and just to play footy locally.

However, when he finished his trade things changed.

“It probably sounds strange but I just had this sudden realisation at the age of 20 that I could get more out of myself,” he explained.

“And that’s what I set out to do when I decided to play for Cessnock in the Newcastle competition.”

“Lots of people said I could not play a game of A grade for Cessnock, they didn’t think I was up to it.”

“But I have made a few steps since then so hopefully I can go all the way and play NRL – and make a long career out of it.”

These steps involved not only winning a premiership with the Cessnock Goannas, a team his detractors said he would never make,  it also saw the unstoppable Holland successfully transition from halfback to fullback.

At the end of the 2014 season, he received a call from the new coach of the Newcastle Knights NSW Cup team, Matt Lantry, and he has not looked back.