Sport
22 May, 2025
NRL debut in front of family and friends
Fletcher Hunt from Warren made his NRL debut for Newcastle.
By Dallas Reeves
The highlight came early, a sensational flying catch of a Dylan Brown bomb in the fifth minute, with pay-television match commentator Andrew Voss stating: “That is some moment. He (Hunt) stamps his arrival on the NRL there.”
There were many more moments of spectacular flying aerial battles between Lomax and Hunt throughout the contest, Hunt pressuring the bigger Lomax into three errors.
And six-and-a-half minutes before half-time, Hunt got within three metres of a try on debut when he was on the end of sweeping Knights’ back-line play.
Hunt also never stopped trying across the entire 80 minutes.
Voss quipped during the second half that seeing Hunt’s bravery when contesting the Parramatta high kicks designed for Lomax, he’d love to have seen the Knights’ debutant have the opportunity to take on Lomax in an aerial contest when Newcastle were attacking, rather than defending.
And after full-time, he was able to soak in what he had just achieved and greet his friends who had travelled from Warren and Nyngan to watch him play in a moving clip posted by Newcastle Knights on their social media.
A Rugby League Immortal notices
Post-game, even Newcastle legend and rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns was impressed by Hunt’s bravery.
“Fletcher Hunt … he made some booboos but he put his body on the line,” Johns said on the Channel Nine Sunday Footy Show. “He had (an exciting) debut.”
Effort and energy a hallmark of Hunt’s game since he was a kid
Effort and energy has always been part of the Fletcher Hunt story.
He first played rugby league in the Under Sevens at Warren and was part of junior Bulldogs sides that won Dubbo and District Junior Rugby League (DDJRL) Premierships in Under 10s, Under 11s, and Under 12s from 2015 to 2017.
Generally a five-eighth with great skills coming through the junior grades, Fletcher then went on to play with the Nyngan Tigers in the Under 13s to Under 18s in the DDJRL and then Group 11 and the Peter McDonald Premiership.
He was a part of the Nyngan Tigers’ side that won the first combined Group 10/Group 11 Under 18s Premiership (Tom Nelson Premiership) in 2022 and then went to make his first grade debut with Nyngan the next season. Also representing Western Rams in the Andrew Johns (Under 16s) and Laurie Daley (Under 18s) Cups between 2021 to 2023, it was around this time that Fletcher realised he had the ability to go further in the 13-player code if he worked even harder, his mother Erin Hunt revealed.
This meant missing parties, eating healthy, and working-out all became staples of his life while attending Warren Central School, where he finished Year 12 in 2023.
Erin Hunt explained that Fletcher has been able to overcome challenges and distractions through his young life and dedicated himself to rugby league.
When the news broke last week
It now means that as the Newcastle Knights website revealed when the Round 11 NRL team was announced at 4pm last Tuesday, “Emerging outside-back Fletcher Hunt has earned an NRL debut on the wing, becoming Knight #358.”
The family found out a little earlier that day
Erin said she figured her son was going to have news of some sort when, while speaking with her husband Danny, Fletcher rang Erin.
Danny told Erin to leave their call and answer Fletcher’s.
It became clear that Danny already received the wonderful news and Erin was about to find out, too.
It was a wonderful time for all the family, with a Facetime call to Erin’s parents also organised that afternoon. “It was very emotional,” she said before Fletcher’s NRL debut. “I was crying … because he has worked so hard for this. It was pretty exciting. He called us just after he’d had the meeting with (Newcastle Knights’ coach) Adam O’Brien...we didn’t expect it at all, massive achievement.”
An outstanding playmaker as a junior, it is only in the last three years as he has started to play senior football that he has had to experience different positions.
At Newcastle he has played all backline positions and at hooker across various grades. And given making NRL level is every rugby league player’s ultimate dream, he has happy to line-up wherever selected.
The question was actually posed to him at a much younger age about how he would feel about playing at NRL level on the wing, his answer was he’d love the opportunity and nothing has changed.
“In his junior career he has always been in the halves,” Erin said.
“When he made first grade for the Nyngan Tigers, they sort of moved him into fullback.
“He started shining at fullback as well and then yeah went to the (Newcastle) Knights and he has had a mixture of different positions … even playing hooker there (in SG Ball trials). He doesn’t complain.
“He just had a good attitude. He’s happy just to go in and give a crack at anything. I think he just sees this as an opportunity. You know, to take it with both hands.
“He is excited. He’s the type of kid that wherever they put him … his effort is just remarkable so he’ll just try at anything that they throw at him.
“I think he really knows that it is a massive opportunity for him and not a lot of people don’t get to do this sort of thing so he’s just very grateful for it.”
The Hunt family put in a large ticket request to Newcastle Knights management, a bus was organised from Nyngan and loads of carpooling was also completed with 100 or more people travelling from the two communities to Newcastle for the match.
“Both Nyngan and Warren are just buzzing,” Erin said last Wednesday.
“So many people are heading down. The positive messages that we’ve got, he is just an inspiration. For little communities, it’s great.
“A lot of people know how much he’s given up. They know that he didn’t go partying with his mates. They’d see him at the gym. They’d see him running. They’d see him over at the oval kicking balls. So they know how dedicated he was to do this. They know it hasn’t just fallen into his lap. The thing they are all saying is that hard work and patience, it just adds up.”
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