Parramatta Eels J’maine Hopgood on cusp of NRL dream, father Dale died after a game of footy

Parramatta Eels recruit J’maine Hopgood has opened up on the family tragedy that has inspired one of the most heartwarming stories of the season so far.

Parramatta Eels recruit J'maine Hopgood.

It’s the family tragedy that has inspired what promises to be one of the most heartwarming rugby league stories of the 2023 NRL season.

And why Parramatta fans will quickly fall in love with this hard-working former Penrith Panther and carpenter by trade, who is tipped to nail down the Eels’ No.13 jumper this year.

Because when you sit down and listen to the battle J’maine Hopgood has gone through to get where he is today, it is hard not to get choked up about the emotional journey that has led him to this moment in his life when it looks like everything has finally turned in his favour.

At 23, Hopgood will go into camp with the Indigenous All Stars on Saturday for the first time, knowing just how proud his mum Anita is after all the family has been through since losing his father when he was just seven.

Parramatta recruit J'maine Hopgood at Eels training. Picture: Parramatta Eels

While his Indigenous blood comes from his mother’s side of the family, his love for rugby league came directly from his dad, Dale, who died after playing his final game back in 2007.

Dale Hopgood was just 39.

The footy loving Queenslander from Hervey Bay had sneaked off that day with his playing kit hidden from his wife, just in case the reserve grade team was short of back-up players.

But after scoring a try, Dale was later discovered by teammates in his car after suffering a massive heart attack.

Hopgood has vivid memories of the moment it all unfolded.

“I was seven, turning eight,” he recalled.

“I remember Dad had gone and played footy with my brother Tyrone, who was playing under-18s at the time.

“And Mum and us kids all stayed at Hervey Bay. We dropped my sister to a friend’s house when Mum got a phone call, and she just turned the car around. She went and picked my sister back up and I was thinking, ‘What’s going on here?’

“And we went to my Mum’s sisters and my Nan was there and my other aunty, and mum sort of just dropped straight to the floor when she walked through the door.

“She was hysterically crying.

“I wasn’t really sure what was happening until we later got told.

“The game was up in Bundaberg that he was playing and Dad never made it out of the ambulance.

“He wasn’t supposed to play that day.

“He had told Mum that he would stop playing. He was 39.

“But he couldn’t help but go up there and play reserve grade … the rest is history I suppose.”

The following year Hopgood watched as Tyrone’s footy dream disintegrated right in front of his eyes.

“Tyrone did a preseason with Manly in under-20s,” Hopgood said.

“It was the year after Dad died.

“He was doing the preseason and then he came back home and had an epileptic seizure.

“He had it in front of me.

“It was just me and him in the bedroom. We had just watched a scary movie and he started foaming from the mouth, having a fit.

“I went and grabbed his girlfriend and then the ambulance came and hooked him up to all the things.

“He just never went back down after that.

J'maine Hopgood (front) with his late father Dale, mother Anita and siblings.

“He was twice the player I was. He was second row but he had the ball skills of a five-eighth.

“They seem to think it was because of all the stress he was under obviously after what had happened and being away from home.”

Asked if his Dad ever got to see him play, Hopgood joked: “My first ever time I played footy Dad was there and I said I never wanted to play again because it was too rough.

“I went out there and cried and said, ‘I’m not playing this game’.

“It was under-6s and I had a year off and went and played soccer.”

But after committing to the game following his father’s death, Hopgood has simply never allowed any obstacle to stand in his way since, no matter how big it was.

For the past few years he has been the Penrith Panthers’ most consistent lower-grade player, but that giant shadow of Isaah Yeo was just too big to budge from the lock-forward position at NRL level.

But the fact Hopgood was last year named man of the match in both the Panthers’ reserve grade grand final victory and the National Championship win the following week against Queensland’s Norths Devils says all you really need to know about the quality of footballer he is.

Ivan Cleary has a high opinion of J’maine Hopgood. Picture: NRL Photos

And while so far he’s only played nine NRL games, an indication of the respect he had earned at Penrith was evident in how Ivan Cleary spoke about Hopgood’s decision to sign with the Panthers’ arch rivals.

“You’re getting a person that is going to turn up, work hard and a winner and a competitor,” Cleary told Parra fans at the time.

“I absolutely love Mainey, it’s sad to see him go, but he’s got to chase his opportunities.”

And that is exactly what this move to the Eels is about.

Hopgood said that while Brad Arthur never made any promises, he felt confident he could achieve the challenge his new coach set him at their very first meeting.

“With the blokes that were leaving he just said if you come here and work hard you will get the rewards,” he recalled.

And with Ryan Matterson set to miss the start of the season after failing in his bid to backflip on a decision to serve a three-game ban over a fine, along with Nathan Brown falling out of favour, it appears Hopgood is ready to seize his opportunity.

Throw in the fact the Eels have also lost Isaiah Papali’i, Marata Niukore and Ray Stone, and there is every reason to think the bloke who spent the past few years waiting patiently below Yeo at the foot of the mountains is now ready to really launch a dream that has been 16 years in the making since his dad passed away.

Hopgood in Parramatta colours. Picture: Parramatta Eels

“Coming through the grades I was never the most skillful and never the most athletic,” he said.

“But I always worked hard and trained hard and just tried to put myself in the position to be there.

“And I think that is what drove me to make the decision.

“The fact Brad said if you can work hard you can earn this spot.”

And ever since it has been head down, bum up for the Hervey Bay junior who also pointed out a little bit of history about his home town.

“Where I am from I think there has only ever been one other person to play one game of NRL,” he added.

“Barry Lea played for the Reds and I think he might have even played for the Wallabies.

“He was a rugby boy but he went away from rugby and I think he played one game for Canberra. Then he went back to rugby union after that.

“And since then there has been no one else that has been born in Hervey Bay that has played first grade.

J'maine Hopgood and his dad, Dale.

“Every kid dreams of growing up and playing NRL, but where I was from it wasn’t really something anyone ever did.

“I guess half the reason why I have got these characteristics that I think I have today is just coming from a family that has suffered a bit of hardship and it has made us all stronger and all more connected.

“I was never given anything as a kid.

“We had a single mum working from home.

“But the stuff she did for us I think instilled a work ethic and toughness inside of all us kids which has helped me along the way.

“And obviously Dad is always going to be there above me watching me, so I know I have always got him in my back pocket.”

Originally published as Parramatta Eels J’maine Hopgood on cusp of NRL dream, father Dale died after a game of footy