Recovering from a blown out knee – Hewitt ruptured his Anterior Cruciate Ligament, his Medial Collateral Ligament and tore the meniscus – the pivot lined up with the Tweed Head Seagulls in the Gold Coast A grade premiership this season.

He then led them to the minor premiership, playing a handful of games in the Queensland Cup along the way with the Seagulls.

“I was just happy to be out playing again,” Hewitt said.

“I didn’t really think about (the injury). I did it at the end of the pre-season (of 2015), so the full year off did it wonders really. It gave me plenty of time to get it healed.

“We were the minor premiers, so it was a really good year to be part of.

“I played most of the games in the halves, ended up at hooker in QCup then came back and played three or four games at fullback … I haven’t played there since under 14s

“I’ve got a renewed respect for them though, and the amount of running they do.”

After finishing the regular season atop of the standings, the Seagulls suffered but a 28-10 major semi-final loss to Tugun, before losing the preliminary final 20-4 against reigning champions Burleigh.

It’s not the ideal end to the 2016 season for Tweed Heads.

But for Hewitt, any form of finals footy was a huge bonus for the talented play-maker, who is now turning his attention to a full-time gig in the Queensland Cup in 2017.

“I pretty much did it all,” Hewitt said looking back at his knee injury.

The time on the sidelines came after a premiership-winning under 20s role with Penrith in 2013 before a year in Mackay.

“I’m pretty comfortable up here at the moment,” he added.

“I’ve got a bit of travelling to do, then it’s back here at Christmas time to get into training.”