Lining up alongside the likes of Greg Inglis, Johnathan Thurston and Wendell Sailor, Paterson will fly the Newcastle and Koori flags against the NRL All Stars in the pre-season exhibition match at Skilled Park on February 13.

The 22-year-old told The Herald yesterday that his Aboriginal heritage could be traced to his paternal grandmother, Thelma.

"It means a lot to me," Paterson said. "I don't really know a great deal about it because my grandmother died when I was young, but it is something I'm very proud of because it's where my father and his family are from.

"She was from the Blue Mountains but she died when I was only two so I didn't really know a lot about her, but I'll be representing my grandmother and my family."

Newcastle will also have an off-field representative as Country Rugby League vice-president John "Choc" Anderson, the former Newcastle Rugby League chairman, has been appointed one of the team's co-managers.

"I'm very proud and privileged to be a part of it," Anderson said.

Paterson has polled well since voting began four weeks ago but tried to suppress his excitement until he heard his name announced in the final squad.

Having represented Australian Schoolboys in 2005 and the Prime Minister's XIII against Papua New Guinea last year, and after 53 NRL games for the Knights in the past three seasons, Paterson ranked All Stars selection "very highly" among his career achievements.

"It's a massive honour and it's something I'm really proud of and happy to be a part of," he said. "Some of the players I'm going to play with, Greg Inglis is the world's best player, Johnathan Thurston was last year, and the calibre of players that I get to play with and against in this game, it's probably going to be the biggest game of my career so far.

"It's going to be an awesome game and an awesome spectacle a packed crowd at the Gold Coast, the best players in the NRL and the best indigenous players playing against each other so it's ground-breaking and I'm very happy to be a part of it."