When J’maine Hopgood made his Parramatta debut just three months ago, couldn’t have believed he’d come this far this quickly.
The 24-year-old lock was on the outer at Penrith for two years before making the switch across Western Sydney, where he now finds himself on the radar of Queensland coach Billy Slater.
The Hervey Bay junior has represented his state at under-18 and under-20 level, and has his heart set on making the step to senior level, though he admitted that he hadn’t heard from the Maroons coach.
“I haven’t spoken to Billy, and it’s not something I try to think too much about,” said Hopgood.
“The only way I think about it is how much it would mean to me if I was able to do that. Twelve weeks ago, if you’d have said that to me then I would have laughed at you.
“To be able to just say that people are saying it is an achievement in itself. I just want to go out and play every week for Parra and do this jersey proud first. If I ever got the chance to wear that (Maroons) jersey then that would be something different and something very special for me.
“It’s everything, it’s the pinnacle for me and a lot of kids growing up in Queensland. If I got the opportunity then I wouldn’t say no to it.
“I’m a Queensland boy who grew up in Hervey Bay which is a pretty small country town. I don’t know, they might build them a bit different up there. That’s for you to decide.”
Hopgood has watched on as several of his teammates from junior Origin have gone on to star for Queensland, with the likes of Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Murray Taulagi and Tom Gilbert all having made the step up.
“I played a lot of 18s and 20s, and was lucky enough to be in camps where I was surrounded by the first grade Maroons boys at the time,” he said.
“You just idolise those guys, and you could see how much it meant to them. We didn’t get the win in either of those grades so that’s something that still stings me to this day, so I know if I ever got to put that jersey on, I wouldn’t leave anything out there.”
One big plus in his favour is his unique style of play, which is unlike any other option that Slater has. Hopgood is already one of the NRL’s best offloaders and ball-playing forwards, which he credits to Parra coach Brad Arthur’s backing.
“You want to be confident in yourself and you want to think that you’ll be able to do it,” he explained.
“That’s just my style of play. Credit to Brad and the team because they’ve backed me 100 per cent to not go out of my shell and be something that I’m not.
“I think I may have done that a bit at Penrith in the games that I played. I played front row and I’d just come on and felt that I had to play within my means of running hard, getting down on the ground and playing the ball, whereas here, I feel like everyone’s backing me and I’ve got a bit of freedom.
“I feel that shows in how many offloads I have, which is something I think comes naturally to me.
“I think I’ve been pretty good considering I played nine games over two years when I debuted, and now I’ve come straight in and played 12 games in a row.
“I think I’ve adapted pretty well to playing every week in first grade and what comes with that. Playing in the middle you get niggly stuff each week and have to deal with short turnarounds, but I think I’ve handled that pretty well.
“I’d like to think I’m taking it seriously and professionally. I think I’m doing well, and Brad always says that. My job is easy for the team – I’ve just got to make my tackles, run first and run hard, and then my offloads will come on the back off that.”
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