Ex-winger who was ‘too slow, too big’ now a key man up front for Dogs

5 hours ago 4

They say lightning doesn’t strike twice, and the same logic usually applies to front-row forwards scoring two tries in a match.

But anyone thinking that Sam Hughes’ brace in Canterbury’s 42-4 demolition of Manly on Sunday was a fluke is presumably unaware of his background.

The towering 24-year-old wasn’t always a prop. In his formative years, he was - in his own words - “a big, tall, lanky winger”, firstly with De La Salle Caringbah, then in the Cronulla and Parramatta junior representative systems.

For good measure, he also played a bit of fullback in junior rugby union.

It wasn’t until he joined Parramatta’s Harold Matthews (under-17) squad that his career abruptly changed direction, when he was switched to the engine room. And unlike most outside backs who move to the pack, there was no gradual transition from centre to back row and then prop.

He was tossed straight into the midfield role but made such an immediate impact that he was chosen in a NSW under-16 team coached by Brad Fittler, which included future NRL stars Bradman Best, Kaeo Weekes, Josh Schuster, Ben Trbojevic and Max Feagai.

“I think I just got too slow, too slow, too big,” Hughes recalled of his positional switch. “I was probably more suited to it as well, more aggressive in the middle.

“I was a bit soft for the first couple of years, but I found my way. It’s good now.”

Having posted two tries in his first 33 top-grade appearances, Hughes doubled that tally on Sunday by scoring the first and last tries of the game.

First he pounced on a Jason Saab fumble and bolted 12 metres to score the opener, then he crashed over from close range after an offload from Bulldogs fullback Connor Tracey.

Yet Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo was more impressed with the tough carries and 27 tackles Hughes delivered during his 30 minutes than his tryscoring heroics.

“I thought his start to the game was really good, and his second stint,” Ciraldo said.

“He scored two tries and everyone sees that, but the stuff he’s doing that front-rowers have to do, I thought he was brilliant at that.”

Sam Hughes celebrates his second try against Manly.

Ciraldo said Hughes, who played all 25 games for Canterbury last season, was getting back to his best after undergoing ankle surgery earlier in the year.

“We missed him at the start of the year,” Ciraldo said. “He had that syndesmosis injury and missed the first 12 weeks of the season. He was really good for us last year.

“He’s just been building towards that. Last week it was hard to leave him out of the team … we wanted him to go back to NSW Cup and play big minutes. He went back and did that and totally deserved to come back into the team.”

After the Bulldogs were knocked out in the opening round of the play-offs last year, they are on track for a top-two finish this season, and Hughes is confident they can do some damage in the finals.

“We’re a different style of team, I reckon,” he said.

Bulldogs prop Samuel Hughes after scoring against the Roosters last year.

“We’re real fit. We base our game [on] defence. You don’t get picked in the team unless your defence is pretty good. So, yeah, we’re a real defensive team, and I think that’s what we’ll need in those games.”

It’s a far cry from Hughes’ debut season in 2023, when the Bulldogs won only seven games and finished third last.

“We got smashed [50-16] on my debut by the Bunnies on Anzac Day,” he recalled.

“That was one you don’t want to really remember, but it was good, man. It was good to get out there [in the NRL].”

Hughes and NSW Origin representative Max King have formed a reliable front-row pairing for the Bulldogs that will be bolstered next season by the recruitment of Kiwi international Leo Thompson from Newcastle on a four-year deal.

“It’s great competition,” Hughes said of Thompson’s arrival. “That’s what we want. We want to beef up our middle pack. So it’s great competition, man. It just pushes you to get better.”

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