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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Jamieson Murphy

Council's push to name new streets after Newcastle Knights legends

Andrew Johns and Tamika Upton are among those in consideration.

The greatest players to pull on the red and blue for the Newcastle Knights could be immortalised as street names if a push by a local councillor is successful.

The draft proposal calls for 10 yet-to-be-determined male players and five named NRLW players to form a "naming theme" for a new estate.

Port Stephens Council will consider the motion at its meeting on Tuesday night. If successful, the general manager will write to the Geographic Names Board, seeking its support to name streets in the Kings Hill estate - located near Raymond Terrace - after a cohort of Knights players.

Councillor Giacomo Arnott, a self-confessed Knights fan, put forward the motion and was surprised to learn no one else had suggested the naming theme.

"I did a bit of research and thought 'wow', there's not really anywhere that I could find in the Hunter that recognised our footy greats," Cr Arnott said.

"I thought it would be worth having the conversation with the community and the Geographic Names Board to see if it was something they were interested in."

Prior to speaking with the Geographic Names Board, the council would consult with the Knights and the NRL Hall of Fame to determine who the men's players should be.

"I'll be shocked if we didn't have a Johns Street up there," Cr Arnott said.

The Newcastle Herald suggested the names Danny Buderus, Paul Harragon, Robbie O'Davis and Matt or Kurt Gidley would also be under consideration

As a new addition the nation's sporting landscape, the NRLW doesn't have a Hall of Fame yet, so Cr Arnott suggested five Knights that had played State of Origin.

Those NRLW players include Olivia Higgins, Caitlan Johnston, Yasmin Clydsdale, Tamika Upton and Hannah Southwell.

Raymond Terrace was a hotbed for rugby league, Cr Arnott said, and is the home to Knights NRLW hooker Higgins, who is a three-time premiership winner, winning a title with the Sydney Roosters before moving to Newcastle.

"Her family is still here and run businesses here, so we're a town with a lot of rugby league in its blood and I wanted to recognise that," Cr Arnott said.

The motion is expecting good support for the motion, thanks to a couple of "long-term Knights supporters" sitting on the council.

"I expect they'll be pretty enthusiastic about jumping on board with it," Cr Arnott said.said.

"Councils in general don't really get too involved in the naming of streets and parks too often, but I think when we've got an opportunity to recognize something that's important to local people, we should do it."

Although the motion suggests 15 streets in total, the Kings Hill development is one of the region's largest housing developments, and the Geographic Names Board may be interested in expanding the naming theme.

The estate is expected to create 700 homes for more than 1400 people.

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