SIX meals a day and two-hour sessions in the weights rooms are the formula that forgotten halfback Luke Walsh hopes will reignite his Newcastle Knights career.

Walsh played 13 NRL games for the Knights in 2007 and, after signing a two-year contract, was regarded by many as Andrew Johns's long-term successor.

But a disastrous 2008 pre-season resulted in him sliding alarmingly down the pecking order.

While Walsh was recovering from ankle surgery and battling a stomach condition last summer, Scott Dureau was training the house down.

When the season kicked off, Dureau was given first shot as Newcastle's first receiver and proceeded to play 18 top-grade games, earning his own two-year deal.

Walsh spent a demoralising season in the Central Newcastle NSW Cup. His campaign eventually ended as frustratingly as it started, when he succumbed to a wrist injury.

But the 21-year-old playmaker is no quitter.

When his teammates dispersed in September for their off-season break, Walsh kept training.

Most days he was in the gym, pumping iron, in a determined bid to add muscle to his lightweight frame.

When pre-season training resumed on Monday, the message was clear: Walsh's teammates can expect to see a lot more of him this year literally.

Having added five kilograms of muscle, he is now weighing in at 84kg, the heaviest he has been in his life.

"Just looking at him, he looks tremendous," Knights coach Brian Smith said yesterday.

"He's really hooked into the weights and he's got a top-half result now.

"He needs to keep sticking at it to get the legs and bottom half to match it.

"He's going really well, but he needs to keep going and keep applying himself."

Knights strength-and-conditioning coach Michael Reid said Walsh was reaping the benefits of a new attitude to his nutrition and diet.

As well as sessions in the gym, the former Western Suburbs Rosellas junior has been eating three main meals a day, and three snacks in between, with an emphasis on protein intake.

"I've been onto him about that since day one," Reid said.

"I think he's just started to take it on board now and realise that he's only got one shot at it.

"He's definitely filled out a fair bit and he's a lot harder. He's put some muscle on and he's looking the goods now.

"All he has to do now is back it up on the field."

Walsh admitted that he was eating so much he had to "force it down" sometimes.

"Plenty of protein," he said. "I've been living on protein, pretty much."

Although he prefers not to dwell on his 2008 season, he conceded "I probably didn't help myself".

"Last season, hopefully I can forget about it," he said. "I'll try to take something out of it, but this year I'll be trying to turn it around.

"It's up to me, I guess."

Smith warned that Dureau, who underwent an ankle arthroscopy in the off-season, would be in no mood to surrender his hard-earned No.7 jersey.

"Scotty hasn't been sitting under the shade of a tree while Walshy's been working hard," Smith said.

"He looks pretty good himself.

"They're both really intelligent footy players with high levels of organisational skill and kicking games.

"They're both good kids, so there will be a likely battle between the pair of them, I think."

Walsh said that Dureau and himself were "pretty good mates" but were nonetheless naturally competitive.

"There's going to be always that bit of rivalry, but we'll see what happens," Walsh said.

"I've just got to take every opportunity that comes my way."

Caption:

LUKE WALSH - Picture by Ryan Osland