Sam Stewart - lead the knights by example.  A Kiwi forward who first signed with Norths in 1981 but returned to NZ to pursue a career as a policeman. Stewart returned to Australia with a great performance as a second rower in NZ's 13 - 6 win at Lang Park in 1987.  Stewart was signed to the Knights in 1988.  Stewart lead by example and the New Zealand international was the first captain of the Knights. Stewart was relegated to the interchange bench during the clubs semi final year in 1992.  Newcastles bench was strengthen with Sam Stewart continuing his role as the "Super Sub" finally free of his painful hip problem which caused him alot of problems in season 1991. 
Newcastle1988 - 92,  42 games
scoring 7 tries,  total 28 points.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? SAM STEWART; The footy page - Once of Knight OLD BOYS 
SAM STEWART
Nickname: Slammin Sam
Position: Second-rower
Knights career: 1988-92
Born: Wellington, NZ; December 5, 1962
Now living at: Burleigh Heads
Marital status/kids: Married to Vicki; sons Shane (27), Zarn (25), Samuel (17) and Cantona (10); daughter Taylor (16).
Playing weight: 98kg
Current weight: 100kg
Currently employed as: Property manager; operates own graffi ti-removal company on the Gold Coast.
Best player you played against: Has to be Wally Lewis
Favourite NRL player now: Theres a few but Ill say Clint Newton. I coached him as a kid and hes a bit of a goose, and I like that about him.
Most memorable game you played in: The first ever one against Manly.
Most annoying teammate at the Knights (and why): No one was really annoying as such, but Marc Glanville always went
to great lengths, or short lengths sometimes, to keep us all entertained.
Favourite memory of being a Knight: Leading the team out.
 
Stewart seeks return to help develop league; May 7, 1997.  
SAM STEWART, a former Kiwi second rower, is hoping to return to Wellington to push the development of league.
He has been offered a position with the new sports academy launched by past New Zealand president Graham Carden at Porirua, and he has spoken to Wellington chairman Brett Brandon about working for them in a coaching and development role.
Stewart, who is living in Newcastle, Australia, after playing for Hull Kingston Rovers in England for the past two years, was back in Wellington last week to look at job prospects.
He would like to have his family return to Wellington to be closer to his parents.
Stewart's plans hinge on the New Zealand league executive retaining its national competition. A meeting in Auckland on Friday will decide whether it continues.
He has developed a proposal, which he will be sending this week to the Wellington and New Zealand leagues, for Wellington's two teams to be run by the Wellington league as a first and second XIII.
Stewart played 18 tests for New Zealand between 1985 and 1989 mainly as a second rower, and while a policeman in Wellington he led the Randwick club and the representative team to success.
He had a distinguished career for Newcastle in the Winfield Cup before playing for the London Broncos and Hull KR in England. He has an advanced English coaching qualification and is finishing off a university degree.

Sam central in club's plans; Herald. Oct 10, 1997.  
FOUNDATION Newcastle Knights captain Sam Stewart has taken over the reins as coach of Central Charlestown. Stewart signed a one-year deal with the Butcher Boys yesterday. Stewart, one of the most experienced rugby league men in Newcastle, has not been involved with rugby league in the region since returning from England last year. `Sam's signing is a great boost to our club,' Central Charlestown secretary John Collins said. `There have been a lot of players who have spoken to our club who said they would wait until we announced our coach before signing. `Once we told them Sam was to be the coach, we have had a lot of players who have agreed to play for us next year.' 
Stewart, who was assistant coach at the London Broncos and Hull Kingston Rovers' coach while in England, said he was looking forward to the challenge of improving the club's fortunes. `I played with Central in 1993 and it is great to be reassociated with them,' Stewart said. `I realise it is a challenge but it is one I am looking forward to. The club officials have told me they will try and attract new players to the club and I have talked to a few myself. We have a few irons in the fire and hopefully we can come up with the type of player who can strengthen the club.'
Stewart is not wasting any time. We will get the basis of the squad together at the end of this month and work out where we are going from there,' he said.

SLAMMIN' SAM IS NO TEXTBOOK CASE
Author: Sam North,  Date: 02 Jun 1992.  Sydney Morning Herald
It may seem unlikely, but tough Newcastle forward Sam Stewart may soon find himself gracing the medical journals and textbooks throughout the world. The hard-running 29-year-old has become something of a medical case study following the discovery of an unusual problem which threatened to end his career and which could have ramifications for elite athletes from many sports.  In fact, doctors involved believe the injury could have been caused by extensive, repetitive training.
Stewart's problem began back in 1989 when he discovered that his right leg started to ache and then cramp badly during exercise, forcing him to play in extreme pain. He consulted doctors in Newcastle and Sydney, in France and England during New Zealand's tour at the end of the 1989 season and in his native New Zealand. The verdict was either a back problem or joint, bone or muscle troubles. No-one, however, could find a cure. In the following 18 months Stewart's form slipped to the extent that Newcastle's inspirational former captain found himself on the bench for reserve grade. Last year he confided to Dr Neil Halpin, one of Newcastle's team doctors, that he was considering retirement. 
Halpin was going through his own agony, trying to work out just what was wrong with the player. One night it came to him: perhaps the problem was due to an arterial blockage?  Tests on Stewart's pulse rate after exercise indicated that it was the problem, but a Sydney vascular surgeon, while confirming Halpin's diagnosis, was unable to find the point of blockage. In fact, an angiogram didn't show any injury to the arteries at all. So it was virtually back to square one: Halpin knew the cause but couldn't treat it because the source of the problem could not be located. 
Stewart then went to Newcastle vascular surgeon Dr Alan Bray who used an innovative ultrasound technique which found an area of an artery in the footballer's groin which was about 50 per cent closed. This normally did not affect Stewart but during exercise the artery was unable to cope with the higher blood flow. Bray rectified the problem by inserting a balloon device into the artery and expanding it. The relief was instant, but the problem recurred after a few months so it was necessary to reinsert the device and further inflate it. In the nine months since, Stewart has had no problems whatsoever and is, in fact, playing with all his former skill and verve. At the time, neither Bray nor Halpin had heard of such a problem in a man of Stewart's age. 
Since then, however, Bray has learnt of six professional cyclists in France and an international marathon runner having suffered similar complaints. Bray, who is having the case published in the prestigious American publication, the Journal of Vascular Surgery, said the artery was located in such a position as to make it unlikely that the scar tissue which caused the partial blockage was incurred by Stewart taking a knock during a match. He feels it is more likely it occurred during the extensive training Stewart put himself through, both as a footballer and as a triathlete. Even now Stewart runs a mini triathlon each week-an 800m swim, a 4km run and a 14km bike ride-in addition to his football commitments. Bray believes the scarring could have been caused by constant jarring of the artery during exercise. "This is a rare condition, so people aren't thinking about it at all," Bray said. "But it may become more common with the type of training programs being done by the modern athlete.  "The point seems to be that it occurs in not just your average first grade footballers, but super athletes. 
"With the increasing number of people involved in super athletic activities I feel there is going to be a large number of these problems occurring."Meanwhile, Halpin is also starting to believe that the problem may be more widespread. He has several patients who have had long-term leg problems and is now investigating whether they have similar arterial injury. 
Stewart's case is remarkable not only for its rarity and for alerting the medical profession to a wider potential problem. Of further interest is the ultrasound technique used to pinpoint the partial blockage which Bray believes is more accurate, and much easier to use, than the traditional angiogram, while it also points to a need for change in the diagnostic techniques used for detecting such problems. "There are a number of review articles by sports medicine doctors and orthopaedic surgeons which state that if peripheral pulses are palpable (able to be felt) then the person does not have an arterial cause for their symptoms," Bray said. "In Sam's case, the pulses were readily palpable, yet he had an arterial cause, hence the textbooks need to be changed." 
 

At his peak of fitness, Sam Stewart was bench pressing about 360 lb's.

SAM: LOCAL HERO, ALL THE WAY FROM WELLINGTON
Sam Stewart, the Knights' captain, personifies the adulation which Novocastrians have showered on their team. One of three New Zealanders in tomorrow's selected team (with fellow second-row international James Goulding and centre Tony Kemp), Stewart says he is more popular in Newcastle than he was back home in Wellington, where, as a footballer and policeman specialising in community relations, he had frequent contact with the public. 
"I could walk down the main street and talk to half a dozen people over a 30-minute stroll," he says. "Over here, where I've lived for about 12 months, on a Saturday morning or a lunch-time it would probably take me 20 minutes to walk a couple of hundred metres, especially this week after a couple of good hard wins behind us. Everybody wants to talk football and how the team's going." 
Stewart is not concerned that some Sydney observers have criticised Newcastle's forward-dominated play as being tedious to watch. "We just have a lot of faith in our coach, Allan McMahon," he says. "We wouldn't play like that unless he told us to play it. He's shown us how to win a game of football. That's all we're after - to win games. When you win games, the crowds up here - we don't play for Sydney crowds - they appreciate how much we put in. "And they just love winning because all they've seen is teams in Sydney on TV and in Rugby League magazines and newspapers. To actually see them live, playing in their home town and being beaten by their own home town, they really don't care how we win." 

Slammin' Sam felt every knock and bump -  28 Sep 1997,  Newcastle Herald
SAM Stewart, the inaugural captain of the Newcastle Knights, felt as if he was back in the trenches again yesterday afternoon as his beloved former club took down the Manly Sea Eagles. Stewart was one of the most passionate players to wear the red and blue of the Knights and was just as passionate after yesterday's game was won in such dramatic circumstances. The man they call `Slammin' Sam had a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon after the match but admitted feeling the pinch throughout the rough and tumble clash. `I actually felt like I was out there taking the knocks and taking the bumps and willing the guys on,' the former New Zealand international said. `Toward the end there, I was just looking at the clock, looking at the field position and I knew we could get there.' 
Stewart reflected back to the 1988 Newcastle Herald Challenge Cup when the Knights beat Manly, then also the defending premier, to help kick them off into rugby league's big time. He also took time to think about all the men and women involved with the Knights over their successful 10 years. He predicted one long party for the club and its mighty supporters, saying: `It will be like the earthquake all over again, the way the party will shake the town.' 
While Stewart, like many other former players, would be disappointed not to be part of a premiership-winning side, he felt his and other people's efforts over the years had been rewarded. `I think all the guys who have been involved from day one have all taken a piece of this along with the 17 players who played today,' he said. `I feel I've had a contributing factor to the club over those 10 years and feel like maybe I've got a fingernail on the Optus Cup.' 

Sam central in club's plans - 09/10/1997, Newcastle Herald
FOUNDATION Newcastle Knights captain Sam Stewart has taken over the reins as coach of Central Charlestown. Stewart signed a one-year deal with the Butcher Boys yesterday. Stewart, one of the most experienced rugby league men in Newcastle, has not been involved with rugby league in the region since returning from England last year. `Sam's signing is a great boost to our club,' Central Charlestown secretary John Collins said. `There have been a lot of players who have spoken to our club who said they would wait until we announced our coach before signing. `Once we told them Sam was to be the coach, we have had a lot of players who have agreed to play for us next year.' 
Stewart, who was assistant coach at the London Broncos and Hull Kingston Rovers' coach while in England, said he was looking forward to the challenge of improving the club's fortunes. `I played with Central in 1993 and it is great to be reassociated with them,' Stewart said. `I realise it is a challenge but it is one I am looking forward to. The club officials have told me they will try and attract new players to the club and I have talked to a few myself. We have a few irons in the fire and hopefully we can come up with the type of player who can strengthen the club.' 
Stewart is not wasting any time. `We will get the basis of the squad together at the end of this month and work out where we are going from there,' he said. 

Let's play it again, Sam -  26 Mar 1998,  Newcastle Herald
SAM Stewart just loves a challenge. As the Newcastle Knights' foundation captain, the fearless forward led an unfashionable side with passion and pride against the league's big boys. Now, in his first season of senior coaching, Stewart is trying to do likewise with Newcastle Rugby League club Central Charlestown. 
Back in the early days of the Knights, the side was built around a bunch of no-names and cast-offs from other clubs. The Knights only won five of their 22 premiership games in their first season (1988) but quickly gained a reputation as a tough outfit to beat, especially at home. Stewart sees some similarities at Central. But he is realistic about what he is working with and makes no bold predictions about how many games his charges will win. His top priority is to see the Butcher Boys show some pride and heart, like he did while playing, and improve with each match. 
The former Kiwi international wants Central to forget about the flashy stuff and get back to basics. So far, so good, especially after a demoralising end to a disappointing 1997. Central only won two games last season and finished the year with a 94-6 thumping from Western Suburbs and a 74-6 hiding at the hands of Lakes. But enter Stewart and the Butcher Boys have looked a different side, even though they have lost a few players and only signed one or two newcomers. In the pre-season, Central narrowly went down 16-10 to South Newcastle but bounced back to beat Maitland 30-10. 
The Butcher Boys then opened their season with a solid 38-15 win over Macquarie United. All three of those clubs, unlike Central, have recruited well over the off-season and are expected to be semifinal contenders. As happy as he was with last weekend's win, Stewart refused to get carried away. `We haven't got a lot of stars,' Stewart said. `We'd like to attract some but we're just working on simple things. At the Knights in the old days there was not a lot of flair but we were a hard team to beat. If you look at the scores so far this season, South scored 16, Maitland scored 10 and Macquarie scored 15.' 
Stewart looks around Central and admits there is little depth at the club. He acknowledges that injuries could cruel a positive start to the season. `We spoke to a few players and they didn't want come to Central,' Stewart lamented. `Probably there is a bit of an innuendo attached to it and what has happened over the past few seasons. `They wanted to be part of a successful club and that's not a problem, I understand that. `But as far as the history of Central Charlestown is concerned, I'm only worried about it from January 1, 1998. `Last year was last year and we have set new objectives for this season. `Our objective is to improve with every outing and that's right across the board. `It will be very much an education process for these guys and they'll be educated on how the game should be played and about intensity levels required to be able to contest the whole game. If we pick up a couple of wins along the way, then that all adds to the confidence.' Stewart will look to the experience of five-eighth Jason Edwards, who scored three tries last weekend, to guide the young and talented halfback Andrew Ryan, who still has plenty to learn, according to the coach. In fact, ask Stewart who his stand-out players are and the coach will not hand out raps that easily. `There's no player or two or even three,' Stewart said. `We don't have a Johns brother or even a Steve Storrie or a Tony Price. `Accordingly, we have had to pull together as a team.' And that's all Stewart wants Central to do this season, just as he and the rest of the Newcastle Knights did when they finally had their chance to compete against the big boys in 1988. 

News 2001 - Knight farewells his castle -  Newcastle Herald
Knights inaugural captain Sam Stewart is parting with his Merewether house but says ties with the team and Newcastle remain strong. Kiwi-born Stewart, now a Gold Coast resident and father of five, was in Newcastle last week to get his 132 National Park St house ready for the market. He also touched base with old team mates and the Caves Beach outlet of his graffiti removal business Grafito. The Knights' life member says he now talent spots for Newcastle as coach of Burleigh Bears. Mr Callaghan says the house, on a 535sq metre block, offers three to four bedrooms plus study and a double carport. 
It includes an open fireplace, new bathroom, a timber kitchen overlooking an open-plan living area with French doors opening to an in-ground pool and a tiled entertaining area. 

Captains -  28 Sep 2001.  Newcastle Herald
SAM STEWART (1988-1990) 
'I'm up on the Gold Coast now and it's pretty exciting - we've just had a whole lot of grand final t-shirts shipped up here for the Knights supporters. 'It is a shame we won't be part of the 90-or-so-thousand people at the stadium but we will be making an event of it up here and our thoughts will be with the boys and Michael (Hagan). 'I suppose age has mellowed the stress side of me and I have only suddenly realised now that there are more important things in life than football. 'But I still never miss a game if I can help it and will certainly be anxious.' 

As a young Novocastrian in 1988, with footy passionate parents, the inaugural knights captain quickly became somewhat of a hero.  When the first knights team tackled Manly on what was then the International Sports Centre.  I remember being left at home with my cousins as all my aunts and uncles went to the footy.  the knights won that game and my parents returned with take out for dinner. It didnt take us long to figure out the connection between parential happiness, yummy food and the Knights winning.  In 1988, it didnt happen too often, so it seemed oddly appropriate that my interview with Knights Old Boy, Sam Stewart took place while he was going through drive through.  "Pip, do you want anything?" He laughed down the phone. After relocating to the Gold Coast four years ago it seems life for Sam Stewart, a father of five, is as hectic as it has ever been. 

Q. Can you take us back to 1988?  What did it feel like running onto the paddock as the very first captain of the Newcastle Knights? 
It was all a bit unknown, there was no real pressure or expectations.  We werent there to win the competition, it was just to play for the town.  It was a very honourable feeling and very humbling at the same time.  We were on a high, but we were just there to compete and play hard.  We werent champions by any means in those days.  I suppose, with the BHP and the coal fields, Newcastle was very much a blue collar town appreciated that we were doing the hard yards.  I suppose that probably changed in 1992 when we first made the final series and the expectations grew. But we grassed out a pretty ugly win that day against the Manly side in the Herald Challenge Cup.  They were the premiers from the year before, so to win a trophy on the first match was a pretty good start. 

Q. What is life after football like for you? 
I run a taxi service, driving my kids around.  No seriously, I've got four sons so I dont get away from football really.  I've also got a bit to do with the junior development in Queensland and I'm involved with my own kids who play netball and football.  Friday night, Saturday and Sunday is usually just football.  I'm also training a group of older guys at the moment and i'm a patrol captain at the Surf Club.  I also run my own company, which is mainly involved in government contracts with graffiti removal.  So its hectic, not alot of spare time. 

Q. What is your proudest moment? 
There's the day back in 1988 we just talked about of course and leading New Zealand in the Haka before a test match.  Being an indigenous Kiwi or a Maori that moment is very close to my heart.  Becoming the first life member is very close to my heart.  Becoming the first life member of the Newcastle Knights in 1992 was pretty honourable and of course my tribe of kids, they bring highlights to me everyday. 

Q. Whats your passion? 
I truly believe the secret to success is passion.  Obviously my passion is the game. 

Q. Whats the best advice you can offer up and coming footballers? 
You have to find out if you really love the game, because you will ride all the highs and lows if you love it.  If you have that passion burning in your heart you will get through in your heart you will get through anything.  If you stop enjoying whatever it is you do, be it playing the guitar, singing karaoke or playing football, there is no point doing it.  If you've got the passion you'll be ok.  If you get the jumper then great but if you dont, then thats fine too.  You have to love it to get through it.

Son rises on new era for Knights; Sunday Telegraph. Dec 5, 2004.  
[Sam Stewart]'s 17-year-old son, Samuel, who was born in Newcastle, is on the verge of winning a scholarship with the Knights and is attending the club's junior skills camp at Myuna Bay this weekend. Unlike his father, who represented the Knights and New Zealand in the second row, Samuel is a halfback and five-eighth who plays rugby and league and has represented Queensland Schoolboys. NEWCASTLE Rugby League general manager Frank Barrett's star is on the rise. Barrett has done an outstanding job since taking over as boss of the Tooheys Cup premiership with the NRL now in a very healthy financial position. HE was Newcastle's first captain and first playing life member, with fans unlikely to forget the inspiration Sam Stewart provided during the early years of the club.
Now, over a decade later, the Stewart name is set to return to the spotlight again. Sam's 17-year-old son, Samuel, who was born in Newcastle, is on the verge of winning a scholarship with the Knights and is attending the club's junior skills camp at Myuna Bay this weekend. The family now lives on the Gold Coast, where Stewart owns a successful graffiti removal business. Unlike his father, who represented the Knights and New Zealand in the second row, Samuel is a halfback and five-eighth who plays rugby and league and has represented Queensland Schoolboys. He is likely to complete his schooling on the Gold Coast next year with a view to joining the Knights in 2006. LOCAL media personality Craig Hamilton went out on a limb to publicly talk about his mental health crisis in the hope of raising public awareness of the illness and help other sufferers. His message, that it can strike anyone in the community and more government funds are needed to combat the problem, is getting out there. Hamilton's book, Broken Open, written by Newcastle journalist Neil Jameson, chronicles his remarkable story and is into its third print run since its release this year. Christmas period sales are likely to see total copies sold stretch to more than 7000.
Hamilton, who has been on 60 Minutes, the Bert Newton Show and radio stations across the country, will feature in the ABC television show Compass in the new year. NEWCASTLE Rugby League general manager Frank Barrett's star is on the rise. Barrett has done an outstanding job since taking over as boss of the Tooheys Cup premiership with the NRL now in a very healthy financial position. With young administrators thin on the ground in rugby league, Barrett's efforts have not gone unnoticed at the code's elite level. From the Newcastle league's point of view, he would be a huge loss to the local competition if he were to move on.
Barrett has said he is happy in the position and not looking for a change. But there have been suggestions elsewhere he doesn't receive the kudos or the financial rewards from the NRL that his performance should dictate. GIVEN their dominance of the northern zone carnival a few weeks back, it's hard to see the Newcastle representative cricket selectors making changes to the side for the Country Cup final against Illawarra early next year. But two players outside the current squad who must be in the picture are injured Belmont star Michael Gerits and prolific run- scorer Andrew Mullard. 

Stewart follows in father's footsteps - Rising star is chip off the old block; The Daily Telegraph. Feb 14, 2006.  
HE was named after his dad and is now aiming to follow the same sporting career path. Samuel Stewart, the 17-year-old son of former Kiwi international and Newcastle's first ever captain Sam Stewart, has moved to the city to join the Knights. And his dad could not be prouder. "I didn't push him at all -- it was just something he wanted to do," Sam said. "He has always said he wanted to play for the Knights. "Even when we moved up here to the Gold Coast when Samuel was 12, he always remained a Knights fan. "He wants to really make a go of it. He is very determined and very disciplined in what he does and I just think Newcastle and the club itself will be a great environment for him to develop as a player and a person. "He is staying with an old neighbour of mine, [current Knights first grade manager] Garry Callaghan and his family, and is going to university to do an undergraduate's course in medicine."
Unlike his father, who played most of his career in the second row, Samuel is a halfback or five-eighth who has the distinction of representing the Queensland Schoolboys in both rugby league and rugby union. He won a rugby scholarship to Southport School for years 11 and 12 but his preference was always to play league when he left school. "I came down to a Knights camp last year with a few mates and I guess the club was interested in me," Samuel said. "They signed me but allowed me to go back home to finish my last year of school before coming back down. I'll be playing SG Ball [under 18s] and going to university."
Samuel has seen videos of his father playing for the Knights, but was too young to remember him leading the team out on to the then Marathon Stadium during the club's formative years. "Dad finished at the Knights when I was five and we moved to England," he said. "We came back to Newcastle when I was nine and we moved to the Gold Coast when I was 12. I just always wanted to come back to play with the Knights and it's great to get that chance."
Sam normally gets back to Newcastle at least twice a year for the club's first and last home games, but is planning to make the trip a little more frequently in 2006.