Road to greatness: Hughes finds home, Dally M Medal and a starring role

Shakespeare’s words in his play Twelfth Night could well apply to rugby league halfbacks: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Penrith’s Nathan Cleary was born a natural No.7 with strong rugby league genes on both sides of his family.

Cooper Cronk played as a fullback, lock and centre before achieving greatness as a half, steering teams to six grand final victories. The Storm’s Jahrome Hughes is a classic case of one who has had greatness thrust upon him. He has twice been propelled into the role of game manager by forceful delegations of senior players confronting the coach.

Late in 2019, as frustration grew that the Storm could not progress through the play-offs with incumbent half, Brodie Croft, the club’s leadership group approached head coach Craig Bellamy and pleaded with him to replace Croft with Hughes, who had been playing at fullback. Bellamy, who had been extremely patient with Croft to that point, yielded.

Settled down south … Jahrome Hughes.Credit: Eddie Jim

The Storm progressed to the preliminary final but lost a close match to the ultimate premiers, the Cronk-led Roosters. However, the following year, with Hughes as half, the Storm defeated the Panthers in the 2020 decider. On the eve of another grand final against Penrith, Bellamy – when reminded of the player-driven ascension of Hughes to the role of game manager – nodded knowingly at his transformation, saying: “He always seems to find the right game for us, whether it’s kicking, running, or passing and organising.”

Hughes had a parallel path to greatness as New Zealand’s halfback. He was selected on the Kiwis’ 2018 tour to the UK but did not play a game. According to coach Michael Maguire, his attitude was substandard and his approach to training was poor. “He wasn’t the best,” Maguire says. “A quiet kid. He was learning how to train. He was a fullback, really.”

Four years later, Maguire listened to a group of senior New Zealand players and also, on their advice, fast-forwarded Hughes’ future. “The senior players, like Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Jesse Bromwich, were all talking about him,” he says.

“That convinced me to put the team on his shoulders. I said to him, ‘You have to be it. You have to take control in the game and on the training field as well’.”

He finally started as half in 2022, his fourth Test match, scoring the opening try against Tonga. “In the last campaign [2023], I saw a totally different Jahrome Hughes to him at the start of my time with the Kiwis,” Maguire says. “There had been a significant shift in his development over those years. Against Samoa [in the Pacific Championship], he was outstanding [in a 50-0 victory].”

Jahrome Hughes on the attack for New Zealand.Credit: Getty Images

Then came the Kiwis’ 30-0 humiliation of the Kangaroos in the final in Hamilton, Australia’s biggest international defeat. “He took the opportunities at the right time and in the right position on the field. He led the team around the park.”

On the inside of Hughes’ right forearm is the tattoo of a compass, referencing his Wellington birthplace and move to football academy Palm Beach Currumbin when he was 14. “I got it done when I was in high school to remind me of home,” Hughes says. “Its points are my mum, dad and two elder sisters. It is an idea I had when I was young to know whenever I got lost, who I could lean on.”

Home, as a welcoming, even spiritual place, is a concept not known or long forgotten by many players, and indeed some NRL clubs, such as the merged entities of St George Illawarra and Wests Tigers who play at a combined six stadia. As players are increasingly recruited from Polynesian families, have their fees paid at private schools, shopped to different NRL clubs by avaricious managers and opportunistic clubs, too many future NRL players will never know a place to call home.

Hughes, who will register his 150th game in the grand final, played one NRL match for the Titans in 2013 in Darwin; migrated to Queensland Cup team the Townsville Blackhawks; and played a single game for the Cowboys in 2016 in Wollongong. He moved to Melbourne the following year after the Storm recruitment team watched him for six weeks via video, then a further three weeks in person.

The need to feel at home is a recurring theme with Hughes. Of his selection on the 2018 Kiwi tour, he says, “I’d played under 20 NRL games by then and didn’t think I belonged. I felt I didn’t have the right to be there. I probably also showed a bit of sourness at not getting a game.

“I came back not in the best shape and got a rocket from Bellsa [Bellamy].”

Others at the club saw his promise and he started as fullback before the move to halfback.

‘I felt I didn’t have the right to tell players what to do, particularly with so many great ones at the Storm and in the Kiwi side.’

Jahrome Hughes

Asked whether he was aware of the involvement of senior players in his promotion to game manager, both at the Storm and Kiwis, he says: “I didn’t know at the time, but it gave me confidence to do the job. It’s something I have struggled with because I am a little bit shy. I felt I didn’t have the right to tell players what to do, particularly with so many great ones at the Storm and in the Kiwi side. Once I got that belief from the coach and senior players, I was good with it.”

Married to Molly, a Gold Coast girl he met at high school, he says: “Dad is still in Wellington, but the Storm is home to me now.” When the Storm won the minor premiership and Bellamy stood him down from the Cowboys match, he was unconcerned it would cost him Dally M votes. “Everything is about the Storm,” he said. It didn’t matter as he claimed the prestigious honour on Wednesday night in Sydney.

It’s no surprise Hughes, of Maori descent, is comfortable in Melbourne. Consider the words written above the door leading into the Storm theatrette where the tactical reviews and previews are held: “When you step into this watchtower, you know what your job is. You have a role to play. You have a legacy to uphold.” The concept of a watchtower comes from 1999 Storm premiership player Tawera Nikau, who explained it at the team’s 20th reunion in terms of Maori tradition: “Only the best warriors could stand in the watchtower and guard the village and look after each other.”

Bellamy considered Hughes as captain for 2024, but Harry Grant is a longer-term proposition, being four years younger than Hughes who will turn 30 two days after the grand final.

Asked if he was disappointed not to be skipper after the demotion of Christian Welch, Hughes says, “Not really. I never wanted to be captain growing up.”

He’s similar to Cronk in this respect. Hughes and Grant are a leadership pairing reminiscent of Cronk and former captain Cameron Smith. Whenever a player makes an error, the hookers offer a consoling pat, but the halves deliver a look which would have repelled Medusa.

Hughes says, “I actually lobbied for Harry to be captain but if my name was put up I’d have taken it. On the field, I feel like I’m the captain and Harry gives me that right.” It was a C change that became a sea change for a club struggling with on-field leadership.

It’s taken half his migratory life for Hughes to find home and assume his lofty status in the NRL and internationally. Many are familiar with Shakespeare’s quote above, but few aware of the line which precedes it.

It is a homily that has finally hit home with humble Hughes.

“Be not afraid of greatness.”

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