Hamish Stewart’s journey to Dragons debut: Growing up inside Saints dressing room, turning down Wayne Bennett
From crying when he couldn’t go to the 2010 grand final, to turning down Wayne Bennett’s offer to take him away from the Red V, Hamish Stewart has been bleeding Dragons red all his life.
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Grace Stewart found herself dry-retching.
The Australian Hockeyroos co-captain was sitting inside the St George-Illawarra chairman’s club at WIN Jubilee Oval last Saturday afternoon.
Alongside VIP’s and corporate’s, Grace had the choice of a delicious seafood lunch, cured meats and salads.
But she couldn’t eat.
“I was more nervous than I have been for three Olympics,’’ Grace says.
“I was just about vomiting.
“I was nervous, excited and so proud that he was playing for the team he’s loved since he could walk that it made me feel sick.
“I knew how much it meant to him and I could also relate to the pressure of performing at the elite level.’’
The day before, the three-time Olympian flew more than four hours across the country from Perth to Sydney to present her baby brother Hamish Stewart his NRL debut jersey.
Stewart, the 20-year-old Dragons lock-forward and rising star, gulped for words, desperately trying to contain his tears as big sister Grace handed over the Red-V jersey.
As he held the famous red and white jumper, he could hardly believe this was the same jersey he’d spent his entire life staring at in the posters on his bedroom wall.
The kid that was born to be a Dragon, who grew-up inside the Saints dressing room with father Scott the club’s welfare officer for the past 22-years, wrote a speech.
He wanted to thank so many people, including Scott, his mother Mandy, his three talented hockey-playing sisters Grace, Lily and Demi “and the town of Gerringong.”
“But he didn’t get through the first paragraph,’’ Scott smiles.
Not wanting to crack either, Scott stood before the Dragons entire NRL playing squad and coaching staff and told the story of the 2010 grand final, when after Saints secured the premiership over the Roosters, he phoned his six-year-old son.
It’s a story which to this day, still cuts Stewart deep.
“With Dad working for the Dragons I would go to every game and be in the dressing room every week,’’ Stewart told The Saturday Telegraph.
“I loved Mark Gasnier but I was too shy to speak. I would just follow him around the room and out on the field.
“In 2010 when the grand final was on, I had to go with mum to my sisters hockey trip in Queensland. Dad was at the game.
“They won obviously. And there Dad was on TV and in the photos, right behind Wayne Bennett and so I rang him up crying because I wasn’t there.
“I was filthy at him that he left me at the hockey trip and didn’t take me to the grand final.’’
As a club, the Dragons have been guilty in the past of discarding too many of their own.
Tyran Wishart, Reuben Garrick, Jack Bostock and Stewart’s cousin Jackson Ford, have all been cast from the Dragons proud south coast nursery.
Stewart’s story is the one that Dragons fans should latch onto, for he is the ball-playing forward who found the gumption to knock back Wayne Bennett - the opposition coach that the Dragons face when they host the Rabbitohs at WIN Stadium on Saturday - only two years ago.
“I didn’t really want to move away (to the Dolphins) because I have always loved this club,’’ Stewart said.
“But a bloke like Wayne, you always want to be coached by him.
“Dad spoke so highly about him when he was at this club (2009-11), but I just couldn’t give up playing for the Dragons.
“Dad has worked at the club ever since I have been alive.
“He’s brought me to all the trainings and every game, so you could say I’ve grown-up at this club.
“I knew from an early age this is where I wanted to be.”
The story of Stewart begins not long after you take the Gerringong turn-off from the Princes Highway along the NSW south coast.
Boxsell Oval is less than a short jog from the Stewart family home and where Grace would carry her hockey stick, her own dreams and baby brother behind.
“Hamish is seven years younger than me and so when he was about eight, he would come and do running training with me down the oval,’’ Grace said from Hockey Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Perth.
“I used to be able to beat him, which was fun.’’
Locals wouldn’t have thought much of the brother and sister zigzagging across the grass.
Grace too, until a text message pinged on her phone prior to her first match for the Hockeyroos at the Paris Olympics last year.
“You showed me how to work hard and get to where you want to be,’’ Stewart sent to his sister via text.
“That came from his memory of me going down there (oval) and running.’’
From chasing his sister to riding his bike to training from the age of six to play for his beloved Gerringong Lions, Stewart has grown-up with a football in his hands.
“When he would go away with his mum and sisters to every hockey tournament he wouldn’t be watching his sisters, he’d be trying to find a kid with a footy to pass to,” Scott said.
“The Wishart sisters also played hockey, so then him and Tyran would be on the sideline passing the footy. There were times where they’d be interrupting a state championship game because one of them has kicked the footy into the field during the game.”
A more grateful 20-year-old you won’t meet, with Stewart constantly paying tribute to his junior footy club the Lions and the people - including Eels legend Mick Cronin - that guided him on his path to the NRL.
“He started hanging around guys like Mick Cronin, who would chuck him into ballwork with Gerringong first grade from when he was 11,” Scott said.
“Coming through the club also that he could follow were (current NRL players) Reuben Garrick, Tyran Wishart, Tariq Sims, Mitch Rein and Jackson Ford.
“Over summer those boys would train and they would show the younger boys like Hamish how to train.
“Hamish and his mates never lost a comp from under 10s to under 18s.
“11 players from his junior side are either in Jersey Flegg or NSW Cup, or are already in NRL squads.
“It’s a credit to those older guys that took them under their wing’’
Such is his passion for the Lions, Stewart ran the water for the first grade team last season and he still attends their training sessions to help every Tuesday and Thursday night.
“I started in the under-6’s at Gerringong Lions and I just love that club so much,” Stewart said.
“I was always up at the Lions training when Mick (Cronin) was the coach.
“He’s just a wise man.
“Because he was coached by Jack Gibson, I picked up so much from being around Mick and all those boys.”
Listen close enough and you can hear Stewart’s three sisters - Grace, Lily and Demi - screaming on the Fox League replay of his debut last weekend.
“When I ran out I had goosebumps. “I could hear my sisters. They have the most distinct yell,’’ Stewart said.
Lost in the Dragons 28-20 defeat to the Bulldogs was the entire context to why St George-Illawarra have locked down Stewart until the end of 2026 and why he’s been selected again this week by coach Shane Flanagan on the bench to face South Sydney.
Called into the match against the Dogs by Flanagan earlier than what was planned due to a torn ACL to teammate Ryan Couchman, Stewart churned through an extraordinary 42-minutes in his debut, earning more minutes than seasoned NRL players Jacob Liddle (25-minutes) and Raymond Faitala-Mariner (23).
He made 36 tackles, the third-most of the entire team and just three less than representative hooker Damien Cook, who was targeted by Canterbury’s attack.
“The speed of the game was like something else and my legs went so early on me and I just had to keep them going,” Stewart said.
“I played more minutes than expected, but I was so happy that I was thrown into the deep end.
“I’ll be better off for it.
“Dad always knew what it took to be an NRL player because he’s seen it inside these walls.
“And he’s seen players that should’ve made it.
“He drilled it into me that it comes down to hard work.
“You don’t need the talent and that’s what I pride my game on, hard work and doing the little things right.’’
A three-time Olympian, Grace knows better than most what it takes to reach the pinnacle of elite sporting performance.
The other day, she sat watching a documentary on champion Storm coach Craig Bellamy.
She smiled, thinking of the advice that her father, Scott, had poured into his only son.
“I was actually watching the documentary and Craig is all about consistency and hard work,’’ Grace said.
“When I was listening to that, I immediately thought of Hamish and how he definitely has those traits.
“He wants this more than anything and if it comes down to consistency and hard work, I can’t wait to see what unfolds.’’
Originally published as Hamish Stewart’s journey to Dragons debut: Growing up inside Saints dressing room, turning down Wayne Bennett
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