Chad’s dream comes to life
Hooker’s Coast career cut short by ill-timed return to home town
IN SIMPLY reaching the NRL, Chad Redman achieved his lifelong goal – but things could have been so different if not for an ill-timed move away from the Coast.
Redman, a hooker, broke into first grade in 2015 at the age of 22 when he was called up by his hometown club Newcastle.
A month later, he was making a whirlwind switch to the injury-ravaged Titans. He relocated within 24 hours of signing a contract and had just one training session before making his club debut against the Warriors at Cbus Super Stadium.
“I always wanted to experience living up there,” Redman reflected. “I always holidayed up there as a young fella.”
He earned five games under Neil Henry but did not win a contract renewal for the following year.
Instead, he signed with Titans feeder club Burleigh, though personal matters saw him headed back to the Newcastle region before the season kicked off.
“Looking back now, you sort of think ‘what if’ … but I have got no regrets about anything,” he said. “I did what I set out to do as a young fella, which was to play NRL.”
In moving back, Redman missed out on playing in what turned out to be a premiership-winning campaign for Burleigh after helping the club sign his former Knights teammate Paterika Vaivai.
At Titans level, as he moved on, his best mate Tyrone Roberts joined.
“I was the best man at his wedding and he is the godfather of my daughter so it would have been nice to extend my stay up there with him but it wasn’t to be,” said Redman, who travelled to Tamworth last month to watch Roberts run out as Titans captain for the first time.
Then, Garth Brennan signed as coach: “Garth was my only football coach up until I was about 21,” Redman noted.
All in all, the father-of-one remains satisfied by his NRL experience and is now focused on giving back to the game at the Singleton Greyhounds club.