Trip of a lifetime: Dane's ride from the backyard to the big time

Dane Gagai is about to become the 54th man to reach 300 NRL games but he can still hear the cautionary tale delivered at his rookie camp as if it was yesterday.

It’s the sobering reality for all young aspirants hoping to carve out a career in the NRL that more will fall away than rise to the top.

"They told us only four out of 20 players are going to make it," Gagai said.

"It's not arrogance but I always was confident and put my hand up that I was going to be one of the four."

The warning had come through loud and clear, but it wasn’t about to deter the kid from Mackay.

Dane was determined to follow in the footsteps of his dad and hero Ray, who had played alongside Steve Renouf, Willie Carne, Andrew Gee and Paul Hauff in his youth, before going on to represent North Queensland 1sts against Great Britain in 1988.

He later starred in the champion Mackay sides of 1993-94, scoring a double in the ’94 State Cup final against Wests.

Twelve years later he scored the first ever try in what is now the Hostplus Cup as the Mackay Sea Eagles took on the Wynnum Manly Seagulls at Kougari Oval on March 30, 1996.

Like so many footy-mad kids, the first steps Dane took on the path to emulating his dad were taken on the green, green grass of home.

“It all started for me playing in the backyard with my cousins and then a bit of barefoot rugby in the juniors in Mackay," Gagai said.

“I played all my juniors at Souths and we had some good players come out of there like Neville Costigan, Ben Barba, Dane Nielsen and Daly Cherry-Evans.

“To see those boys go through was inspiring but the biggest one for me was Josh Hoffman, my cousin.

“I was playing rugby at Brisbane Boys’ College and I had the option to go both ways [league and union] and then the under 20s competition started in 2008 and Josh was a part of that and I just wanted to follow him.

“He was a big reason I signed with the Broncos.”

Boasting talented teens like Ben Hunt, Alex Glenn, Andrew McCullough, Jharal Yow Yeh and Hoffman, the Broncos made it all the way to the grand final of the inaugural Toyota Cup competition before going down to Canberra in golden point.

Come 2011 and 20-year-old Gagai was making his NRL debut for the Broncos alongside such luminaries as Darren Lockyer, Sam Thaiday and Corey Parker, as well as the aforementioned Toyota Cup graduates.

Gagai would play just six games at the Broncos before moving to the Knights in 2012 and then to Souths in 2018 before returning to Newcastle in 2022.

A journey that began 14 years and 299 games ago now has the Maroons and Kangaroos winger on the verge of a special milestone and still going strong.

“I did my best time ever in the bronco test [1.2km shuttle] in this pre-season. The legs are feeling good and the body’s feeing good,” Gagai said.

“I’ll keep going until I lose the passion.

“I don’t plan on leaving the game any time soon so I won’t be reflecting on my career just yet.

“My focus is getting our season back on track and pushing for the eight.

“We all need to take responsibility as an individual and there has been a big focus on discipline.”

It's on again!

Replay

It's on again!

Much like Dane idolised his dad, he now has his own son Dante looking up to him and running out beside him as a Knights ball boy.

Such is their shared love of rugby league, Dane admits he is more excited about Dante being a ball boy than his own milestone.

“He has been passionate about the game since he was two years old,” Gagai said.

“He was waking up at 5.30am to watch YouTube highlights of old Origin games and it got to the point where my wife was begging him to watch cartoons.

“He is nine now and he understands the game and it is great having him around.”