Kevin Hulbert has bled blue ever since he played his first game for Narrabri Rugby League Football Club as a 14-year-old in the under-17s competition in 1970.

Flood, as he is well-known around Narrabri, went on to play for about 12 years for the club, during which the talented five-eighth and halfback won five premierships and went to the grand final nine times. Since then, he has held many roles at the club, including a coach, manager, trainer, strapper and mentor.

He loves the Narrabri Blues and the club certainly loves him back.

Late last year, Hulbert became the club’s newest life member at the Blues’ annual general meeting.

He told The Courier that it was an honour to have his name inscribed in the club’s history books and said that his love of the game was driven by his family, his teammates and the coaches that he had along the way.

“It’s a fantastic honour. I don’t know how to really put it into words. It’s a great respect to my family,” he said.

“I wasn’t at the AGM. I was away. But when I got home, I got a phone call from the outgoing committee who told me I’d been nominated and been successful.

“It took a couple of weeks to really sink in what it meant.

“To be recognised for the time I’ve done is very fulfilling, but it’s something I would have done regardless.

“I just bleed blue. I’m a Blue for life.

“The only thing I haven’t been in the club is on the committee, but I’ve been everything else from a coach to a strapper.

“I owe my career to my family, especially to my wife, Janet. She has been my backbone.

“My dad (Percy) too. He was an old Spicer Cup player. He played back in the 40s and represented Narrabri, and he then became a referee and a coach. He taught me the game.

“I come up under some great coaches too. I was there in the Noely Stanford era, where he coached all those great kids and great teams.

“I then had St George coach Peter Carroll, who was here running a pub at the time. He coached me for one year, and I learned so much from him. I had a lot of respect for that man.

“Franky Fish was my next coach, and I don’t think there’s been a better coach get around.

“I also played in the Cowboy Hetherington era too, but I had to give it up then because of knee injuries.”

Hulbert’s early days were full of triumphant successes as he and his teammates won four straight junior premierships, and he also won a first grade premiership as well in 1976.

“My dad brought me down as an almost 15-year-old boy to have a game, and in those days it was under-17s. I started playing at a fairly young age,” he said.

“I was lucky to play in an era where we had very, very good junior kids and great coaches. “I’ve played under some of the greatest coaches you’ll see in the north west. I was blessed.

“Fortunately enough, we went on to win premierships in 1970, 71, 72 and 73, so I played four junior years and we won four premierships.

“The first year was under-17s, and after that, we moved up to under-18s.

“In that time, I played Northern Division juniors as a 15-year-old and then played again two years later, and in my last year of juniors, I captained the Northern Division side.

“I then proceeded into first grade where I played in Franky Fish’s side that won the 1976 grand final, and I ended up playing in another four grand finals that we got beaten in.

“Out of nine grand finals I had five successes, and I think that marks a good career.”

A good career is certainly an understatement.

Among his many achievements in the game, Hulbert played an international match against New Zealand for Northern Division at Scully Park in Tamworth.

The Northern Division side was captained by Frank Fish that day and led 22-0 at half-time, but lost its way after Fish was knocked out in the first tackle of the second half and went on to go down 24-22.

Hulbert also represented Northern Division in the Amco Cup.

One of his greatest memories as a rugby league footballer was playing the final 20 minutes of his career alongside his brother, Maurice, in a grand final in North Tamworth.

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