In the 10 weeks he spent sidelined after rupturing his peck. Mitchell Pearce took himself back to school.
When he wasn't in rehab, he was pouring over game videos, many of them from years ago, looking at the different ways teams attacked.
It was all about finding styles and plays he thought would suit the Knights under the current rules when the band finally got back together.
The band of Pearce, Kalyn Ponga, Connor Watson and Jayden Brayley was back together on Saturday night for the first time in 16 months alongside a new member - Jake Clifford.
And off the back of only a handful of sessions, it's fair to say their new sound hit all the right notes. Seven tries in a 38-0 whitewash of the Cowboys is proof of that.
It's early days but coach Adam O'Brien's decision in recent few weeks to give his chief playmakers the keys to the attack and far more ownership of how the team plays with the footy already appears to be a masterstroke.
Apart from the opening 20 minutes of the second half where they fell back into their old ways of playing too lateral and being easy meat for the Cowboys defence, Newcastle's attack hummed. For most of the night, it looked far more threatening than it has all season.
Ponga was hugely influential in his return from injury and instantly gave the likes of Enari Tuala and Kurt Mann more confidence. But unlike earlier in the season when if it wasn't happening around the dynamic fullback, it wasn't happening at all, Newcastle now has more attacking avenues to threaten.
Pearce still pulls the strings but has far more freedom and confidence to run the footy and play off the cuff with Clifford alongside him.
For his part, Clifford's impact has been huge and in a few short weeks, has already left egg on the face of those fans who heavily questioned his signing earlier in the season.
If the former Cowboy is not hoisting bombs into the stratosphere or threatening with his equally dangerous short-kicking game, he is chasing down Pearce's kicks and competing for everything in the air.
O'Brien's pack changes have also worked. The decision to start with Daniel and Jacob Saifiti up front with David Klemmer coming into the game fresh off the bench has been a winner.
Out wide, big winger Dom Young just grows in confidence with every game and the importance of the return of Hymel Hunt can't be understated.
But while there were plenty of encouraging signs in attack the other night, it has been the turnaround in defence in the past couple of games that has left the biggest impression on the coaching staff.
After letting in an average of more than 26 points a game in the opening 14 rounds, they have conceded just one runaway try off a dropped ball in their past two matches.
Insiders claim the work of assistant coaches Anthony Seibold and Eric Smith, who have taken charge of the defence and been working overtime to bring about improvement, is finally beginning to have an effect.
There was no better example of that then the four minutes before halftime against the Cowboys when Newcastle was leading 22-0 and repelled three consecutive sets on their own try-line.
Hunt and Mann on the Knights' usually brittle-thin right edge came up with two superb tackles to deny the opposition.
Earlier, the desperation in defence was also there with Clifford's outstanding effort to force centre Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to brush the touch-line with his foot to prevent a try when the Knights led just 4-0 a glowing example.
In the week leading up to the Warriors game, O'Brien made a big deal out of resetting his side's season with 10 rounds remaining.
He told his players that what had happened in the opening 14 rounds was irrelevant. Their season started now with a fresh approach and a clean slate. So far, so good with two straight wins, albeit against middle-of-the-road opposition.
The big test is directly ahead with Melbourne the week after the bye. Incredibly, the Storm has scored 40 points or more in 10 of their last 13 games.
They are blowing teams off the park and their dismantling of the Roosters in Newcastle last week shows just how big a challenge the Knights face.
A near full-strength Newcastle will have two full weeks to work on their game and prepare.
Their performance will tell us a great deal about where they are headed.
