J’maine Hopgood impressing the right people for Origin contention

J’maine Hopgood is only 11 games into his NRL career but is impressing all the right people.

So much so, the Parramatta Eels 23-year-old from Hervey Bay is already considered a fringe Queensland State of Origin player.

He has represented his state at Under 18s and 20s and was named NSW Cup player of the year in 2022.

Hopgood, captained Penrith’s S.G Ball side to a premiership in 2017, the same year he played for Queensland Under-18s.

He played nine NRL games for the club in 2021-22 after debuting against the Gold Coast in Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium in 2021.

Last year he again displayed his maturity and leadership taking the Panthers NSW Cup side to a premiership before rejecting an offer from North Queensland to pen a two-year deal with the Eels.

Last weekend, he starred in just his second game for Parramatta, earning impressive reviews despite the Eels going down narrowly 30-26 to the Sharks.

Against the Sharks, he had two try assists, one line break, one tackle break, 60 post-contact metres, four off-loads, almost 50 tackles and ran for 145 metres.

He is churning out figures that are impossible to ignore and if he continues to perform at such a high level it will bring him right into Origin discussions for this year’s interstate series with game one 80-odd days away.

Hopgood possesses a tremendous work ethic for a middle forward. He doesn’t shirk the hard hit-ups and has an off-loading game that gives him an extra bow in his kit bag.

“He is quite skilful, has a great motor and he is tough and uncompromising,” Queensland head selector, Gene Miles, told bettingsite.com.au this week.

“We are only two weeks into the competition and we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves but having come through our Queensland pathways, we’re not surprised he has hit the ground running.

“He is in the mould of Reuben Cotter, but he also has his own game and it is growing.”

The youngest of four children, Hopgood’s story is one of hardship and tragedy after his father died from a massive heart attack at the age of 39 after playing a game of rugby league.

“Hopgood recalled recently how he told his dad as a six-year-old he didn’t want to play rugby league because it was ‘too rough’.

He played for the Harvey Bay Seagulls from the age of five until moving to the Sunshine Coast to start an apprenticeship with his uncle, with no plans to continue playing rugby league.

As luck would have it though he played some footy for Caloundra whose coach recommended him to Penrith who invited him to Sydney for a trial.

“It was only last year that I decided football was the way to go even though as a kid at school I always wanted to be an NRL player,” he said.

Hopgood remembers the day his father died vividly and admitted it had a profound impact on his life.

“Dad was a bit of a larrikin. He was playing a reserve grade game in Bundaberg and usually after the game he is the first bloke to go to the ‘pig pen’ where everyone goes after the game for a few beers.

“This day he wasn’t feeling up to it and told his mates he was going to go lay down in his car.

“A couple of my uncles thought it was strange ‘Hoppy’ wasn’t in the bar and they went to check on him.

“They found him not breathing in the back of the car, He just had a massive heart attack.

“It’s a hard day to recall but one I will never forget.

“As a young kid, you really don’t know how to deal with the loss of a parent and you wonder how we kept a roof over our head and food on the table.

“The amount of respect I have for my mum and how she kept us going, I will never know how to repay her.”

There were emotional scenes when Hopgood, broke Covid protocols by running to the sidelines at Suncorp Stadium to hug his mother and siblings after making his NRL debut in 2021.

Hopgood thinks about his father every day and before every game knowing he would be looking down watching.

“Dad is always watching over me,” he said.

“I’m sure he’ll have a beer in hand cheering.”

Latest sports betting news