It was grand final week, 1997 and one Sydney newspaper had written up profiles of each of the players. Andrew Johns, arguably the best player in the game. Robbie O'Davis with an amazing side-step. Matty Johns' outstanding passing and kicking game.
Mark Hughes? "As skinny as a minute-to-six and shoulders like a brown snake".
The kid from Kurri was signed to the Knights on a pocket-change contract of $5000, notably playing as a centre against the $400,000 player, Craig Innes.
"That's the good thing about sport. Once you get on that field, it doesn't matter who you are," Hughes tells Barry Toohey in the third episode of his new podcast Toohey's News.
The Knights, famously, went on to win that grand final - and again in 2001 - the year Hughes played three Origin games.
In episode three, Hughes steps back through his playing career and the fateful diagnosis that changed his life at 36.
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Have your say or suggest a guest for an upcoming episode by contributing a rating and review in your Apple Podcasts app, or get in touch via email at news@herald.com.au.
Toohey will bring a new episode to all your favourite podcasting apps every week, complementing his premium and exclusive Knights reporting and analysis in the pages of the Newcastle Herald.
Have your say or suggest a guest for an upcoming episode by contributing a rating and review in your Apple Podcasts app, or get in touch via email at news@herald.com.au.
Episode four of Toohey's News will publish on Thursday.
