Returning Knights star Dane Gagai has pledged to do everything in his power to win a premiership for Newcastle, in what he sees as a fairytale finish for himself and the stars that struggled through the Hunter’s “wooden spoon years” in the late 2010s.
Gagai is back in red and blue after a four-year stint in South Sydney, and the winger has one goal as he prepares to represent the Hunter again — win Newcastle a trophy.
The Knights star sees it as the perfect finale to a story that started in 2012.
Then in his early 20s, the Mackay youngster joined the Hunter club after just six top-flight games with the Broncos. He debuted midway through the 2012 NRL season, and went on to make a dozen appearances with five tries to his name. The 21-year-old won his place at the club, and would become a mainstay at the Knights.
The end of his six-year adventure in Newcastle was rough, however. Gagai, alongside a host of young faces, unknown NRL players, and Novocastrian hopefuls, finished dead last in the national competition three years in a row, rounding out an unwanted hat-trick of wooden spoons.
Now, four years later, Gagai is back to make amends. He’s learned his lessons with the Rabbitohs, and is set on one path: finish his story with the Knights by winning Newy’s club a premiership.
The 31-year-old reveals he’s thought a lot about the 2015-through-2017 period, where his team were getting blasted off the park each and every week, and what he might do to put a strong finish on a grim few years.
“It wasn’t really fair on those boys coming through [in the spoon years], we were just losing week in, week out. That’s all they really knew. That’s not an excuse or a reason or anything, but I was fortunate enough to come through with known winners, under Lockyer, Hodges, Jharal Yow Yeh, all these incredible players, so I learned how to win, how to lose,” he said.
“I left on three wooden spoons and I’ve gone on to play in a grand final.
“I know what that feels like and I want that feeling for these boys here. [Back then], those kids were just happy to play first grade then. And a lot have gone on to play finals [with the Knights], so we have the team to do it. We want that. What I left on is just another reason.
“It was a big ask to take the club to a position where we win,” he admitted, “but the boys have got us there, so I’m going to come back in and try my best, try to help this team win a premiership.”
On top of wanting to win for his ex-teammates and old players who have left the game, Gagai also proclaims his love for Newcastle and the Hunter is driving him to win, and to “do it for the fans.”
“When I left Newcastle, I haven’t really spoken about this to anyone, but to actually leave the club was one of the biggest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Gagai said. “When I came from the Broncos they’d let me go. When Wayne [Bennett] told me about Newcastle, he sold me on the town. I knew nothing about the town and they didn’t take me to Merewether Beach or anything, they took me to a place that wasn’t the best.
“As soon as I signed, Bedsy [Buderus], all those boys, we went for a coffee.
“I went, mate! I deadset didn’t even know you guys had beaches here. I said look, the next bloke you’re signing, bring them here, ’cause the only reason I signed was Wayne,” Gagai laughed.
From there, however, Gagai “fell in love with the town, and its people,” and admits it was heartbreaking to leave for Sydney in 2017.
“We had two seasons of wooden spoons, and we were going onto our third, and we still had so many fans turning out for us each and every week, those fans were just phenomenal. When I’d made the decision, the hardest thing was driving to a game, we were going on our third wooden spoon, and I was driving into the stadium.
“When I got there, I saw a dad with his two boys, and they had their jerseys on, and they were still coming even though we were on the wooden spoon. That was so hard, so when I got the opportunity to come back, that was on my mind.
“The fans, here in Newcastle, they’re unbelievable,” the now re-signed Novocastrian winger said, and admits that is just as important in his title chase: “I just want to repay them, repay them all.”
