After years working away on the tools and fighting for an NRL spot, J’maine Hopgood now has some stability with a new deal with Parramatta, writes PAMELA WHALEY.
Parramatta have moved to lock down one of the breakout stars of this season by re-signing J’maine Hopgood until the end of 2025.
The ex-Penrith lock is one of the buys of the year and signed the upgraded contract on Thursday, his 24th birthday.
After toiling away in the lower grades behind NSW lock Isaah Yeo at the Panthers, Hopgood jumped at the opportunity this season to earn a starting spot at the Eels where he’s gone from strength to strength.
“Being able to be out on the field in the NRL consistently has been good for me and hopefully I can just keep building,” he tells CODE Sports.
“You always want to back yourself and think that you’re good enough to be there and I think ever since I’ve been given the opportunity, it’s helped my cause a bit and I was just at that point where I was searching for an opportunity.
“I’m just grateful for Brad [Arthur] and everyone here at the club for giving it to me and I’m just trying to reap the rewards of it now.”
The extended deal gives Hopgood and his partner, Erin Munn, some stability for the future before their first child is born in September.
It’s a wonderful place to be in for Hopgood with so much to look forward to.
Looking back on the early struggles of his career, he wasn’t always sure where rugby league would take him.
He’s a carpenter by trade, and while playing lower grades for Penrith he was working hard on the tools too, not knowing if an NRL would ever pan out.
When he did make his NRL debut in 2021, Hopgood then played nine first-grade games in two seasons, but has now played all 10 games for the Eels this year.
“You have to be willing to back yourself and be confident, but rugby league is one of those things where it’s a cutthroat industry,” he says.
“I could easily say coming through the ranks at Penrith, I was at the back end of my under 20s years and I was doing a bit of a pre-season with grade and then going back to a NSW Cup contract.
“If you would have asked me back then if I’d be here now, it might be a different answer, but I’d like to think I’ve worked hard and now I’m getting rewarded for it.”
His re-signing is timely ahead of the NRL’s Indigenous Round next week.
Growing up in Queensland’s Hervey Bay on Badtjala country kept him grounded too, and Hopgood started to connect with his ancestors’ story through Indigenous All Stars for the time this season.
Parramatta’s jersey this year is designed by Sean Kinchela, and pays respects to the Burramattagal people, and animals that live in the Parramatta River, including the eel, fish and turtles.
Hopgood is currently the only Indigenous player in the Eels’ top 30, but he’s more than happy to carry the significance of the week and his culture for his teammates.
“It’s just rewarding to be able to be a good influence to young kids and young Indigenous kids out there as well. That’s the most rewarding part of it,” he says.
“You don’t even have to do anything but be yourself and just stepping foot on the field is enough to have an influence on young Indigenous kids’ lives.
“I’ve been really enjoying it.”
The relaxed young forward is taking it all in his stride.
He says there was never a huge amount of pressure on him to be an NRL star, unlike so many kids who grow up in Sydney and Brisbane, so everything that has come his way over the course of his career has been a bonus.
“Where I come from, there might be one person who played one game of NRL in Hervey Bay, and I’m pretty much the first person from there to properly crack it and play a few games,” he says.
“It wasn’t something anyone expected of me anyway, so I just took each step along the way, in SG Ball and into 20s and reserve grade and those little things were rewarding for me to be doing something that, where I’m from, no one had really done before.
“One way of looking at it is, I was happy to be where I was at, and now I’m really grateful to be where I am now.”
