One coach, a player/coach and three playing legends are the first to be inducted into the Newcastle Knights Hall of Fame.
Block busting forward Paul Harragon, halfback Andrew Johns, centre Matt Gidley along with inaugural coach Allan McMahon and premiership coach Michael Hagan were judged by a panel of five as the first to enter the Hall of Fame.
They were inducted at a star studded ceremony tonight in Newcastle, with the late Allan McMahon’s wife Glenice accepting the honour posthumously.
The road to the Hall of Fame began in February this year with the public voting for their best 25 Knights of all time.
The judges then whittled that down to 10 nominees, of which five made the cut.
TOP 10 Nominees
Tony Butterfield
Matt Gidley (Hall of Fame)
Michael Hagan (Hall of Fame)
Andrew Johns (Hall of Fame)
Matthew Johns
Paul Harragon (Hall of Fame)
Allan McMahon (Hall of Fame)
Robbie O’Davis
Steve Simpson
Mark Sargeant
Of the 10 Hall of Fame nominees, six are Hunter Valley born and bred, while three of the five inductees are from the Hunter.
The nominees were judged not only on their ability, but also what they bought to and how they fitted into the wider community.
Current players were excluded from judging.
The five man judging panel was inaugural assistant coach Allan Bell, Leigh Maughan, former Knights Chairman Michael Hill, NBN’s Mike Rabbitt and Herald sports writer Brett Keeble.
