The oldest Mata’utia will now get the chance to play alongside brothers Chanel, Pat and Sione and become just the second quartet of brothers to play first grade alongside each other in more than a century after the Burgess brothers achieved the feat with Souths in 2013.

Mata’utia had, in the past, been linked to reunion with his three brothers at Canterbury after the trio initially agreed to join the Bulldogs as a package deal in 2014 before instead re-committing to the Knights on respective three-year deals.

His release will allow him to link with the struggling Knights, with whom he debuted as a 19-year-old in 2011, effective immediately.

“Peter is a local junior who we are bringing home, and that is important,” Knights coach Nathan Brown said..

“More importantly he is a left centre, which is something we have been looking for. Peter is a good, consistent first grade player and he will help enhance our young developing players.”

The versatile Mata’utia has played 25 games since joining the Dragons in 2014, switching between fullback, wing and centre, but has struggled to cement a regular top-grade spot. He looked to have found a home when he played a career-high 21 first grade games, 15 of them at right centre, last season, prompting him to spurn interest from the Gold Coast to re-sign with the Dragons until the end of 2017.

However the arrival of Tim Lafai and Kurt Mann to the club and Josh Dugan’s brief flirtation with a switch to the centres have limited his opportunities in his preferred position.

He’s played five of the Dragons' seven games this season on the right wing but was dropped in favour of another new arrival, Kalifa Faifai Loa, for Saturday’s victory over the Titans after the club suffered consecutive defeats to the Cowboys and Broncos.