Newcastle’s new Kiwi star MAX HICKS on feeding his pet eel butter chicken, growing up on AFL and hockey, waterskiing, working on a building site with Exeter’s Ethan Roots and being compared to LeBron James – is an England call next?

Newcastle Red Bull’s new England-qualified arrival is full of surprises.

Let’s start with Max Hicks’ childhood. He was born and raised in New Zealand. His father, James, is Maori, and his mother, Liane, comes from Cornwall.

‘I grew up in a little town called Coatesville, west of Auckland,’ explains the 27-year-old, his long limbs sprawled across a sofa at Kingston Park. ‘I had a pet eel called Scarface. We had this big creek that ran through the bottom of our property. We had agricultural day at primary school, where people would bring in sheep, calves, bunny rabbits.

‘My old man was a builder and we had this old bathtub, so we went and caught one of the eels from the creek to take into school and I kept it as my pet. I put it back in the river but it would always come back. I always fed it left-over butter chicken. They don’t have good vision so it was something to do with the aromatics. It loved it. I’d pick it up and take it around the garden. I had a ram called Cookie, too. I would shout his name and he would run over to me. I was a pretty weird kid…’

His sporting journey has been equally unconventional. While the likes of Caleb Clarke and Tupou Vaa’i were nurtured through the All Blacks age grades, Hicks was often found playing hockey or Aussie Rules. A career in rugby seemed like an unlikely path.

‘My parents encouraged me to get into all sports possible,’ he says. ‘I played 100 games of first-team hockey at high school and played for the New Zealand Maori hockey team. I started playing AFL in my last year of high school, too, and spent some time with St Kilda (one of the AFL’s most historic sides, based in Melbourne). AFL is such an athletic sport. The big men can all run, jump, kick off both feet, handle with both hands.

‘I loved playing rugby but I was never the best. I got invited to a few of the Under 20s camps but I was built like a rake. AFL wanted me to be super fit and to be able to run forever. Rugby wanted me to bulk up. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

‘Rugby never really hit me as a proper career path until I kind of left high school. Once I’d chosen rugby, I went on this big bulking journey to put on some weight. McDonald’s, KFC, ice cream!’

Hicks became a trainee builder to fund his rugby dream. He upped his calorie intake and took on an early morning weights routine before going to work. By chance, his labouring colleague was school-mate Ethan Roots, the Auckland-born Exeter Chiefs flanker who has been capped by England.

‘We went to the same high school and we worked for the same building company, building houses around Auckland.’ he says. ‘We were setting out slabs, putting standing walls up, putting on cladding. You’re getting up at 4.30am and you’re in the gym at 5. I was still trying to make it in rugby but I was also planning for life if I didn’t.

‘I wasn’t a young superstar who was picked up straight out of high school and straight into a rugby environment. I moved down to Tasman. They didn’t offer me a full contract, but they kind of said, “Hey, if you come down here, work hard, you can earn yourself a spot on the team”.

‘The following year I joined the Highlanders. I remember going in for the first time and seeing all these guys I’d watched on TV. Guys like Aaron Smith and Shannon Frizell. Ben Smith and Tony Brown were coaching us. It was pretty surreal. I played for the Maori All Blacks, representing my dad’s side, and I was really keen to have an adventure, so I shot over to France and joined Perpignan.’

Wearing the No6 jersey last season, Hicks’ turnover haul was second only to Jack Willis in the Top 14. With Europe on his doorstep, he had the opportunity to retrace his family roots.

‘My grandad was in the Royal Air Force and he got a posting in New Zealand. Mum was born in Truro and they moved over when she was around ten years old. I went to Cornwall with mum for the first time last year, that was cool. She got to show me where she grew up.

‘We got an Airbnb and spent some time in St Ives. Ethan and Jimmy Roots popped over from Exeter, too. A lot of the family moved over to New Zealand but there will be a few relatives hanging around. I might have to do one of those Find My Family mouth swabs!’

Newcastle’s head of recruitment, Gavin Vaughan, learned of Hicks’ English roots last year. Vaughan previously worked for Scotland and unearthed Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones, scouring the rugby world for Scotland-eligible players.

In his new role with Newcastle, Vaughan has to hit targets of English-qualified players, making Hicks a particularly attractive proposition.

‘I wasn’t actively looking to leave France but I was open to hearing what was out there. Red Bull approached me and my agent and it’s such an awesome project. The Red Bull influence is pretty cool. I thought, “How cool would it be to come into a new environment that’s so unknown, with all this expectation, and really turn a place around?”

‘You know, the Falcons had it tough for a couple years. It would be such a cool story to come here as a group of people from all around the world and fill the stadium out every week. That’s what excited me. Mum was quite happy that I moved over. There’s a bit of patriotism there. I’ve represented my dad’s side and I guess now I’m representing my mum’s.’

During Newcastle’s pre-season camp at the Red Bull HQ in Austria, Hicks had another surprise for his team-mates. He wowed everyone with his wakeboarding skills out on the Wolfgang Lake – another skill he picked up living by the coast in New Zealand.

Hicks has only played two PREM games for Newcastle but he is already making a name for himself. During last weekend’s defeat by Leicester, Ireland legend Brian O’Driscoll compared his ability to hold a ball in one hand to NBA superstar LeBron James.

At 6ft 6in and 17st 9lb, Hicks resembles former Saracens flanker Theo McFarland, whose basketball background gave him an athletic point of difference. His eye-catching performances have thrown him into the mix of England’s World Cup bolters – although there has been no contact with Steve Borthwick.

‘It was never my reason for coming over here but I would love to play international rugby,’ he says, having represented the Maori All Blacks twice but never the full senior side.

‘I’d love to represent my mum’s side of the family. If that happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m here to throw all my eggs into the club. My reason for coming here was to be part of an exciting project with Red Bull.

‘I know we’ve had a tough start to the PREM and we’ve lost two, but the progress we’re making as a group has been really positive. We’re still fine-tuning things, the fans are excited, and the group’s gelling really well. It’s just about finding those little connections with players you have never played with before.

‘Some teams have been together for a few years and they know who’s going to get a weak shoulder and throw an offload. We’re still figuring that out with each other, but when that clicks, it’s going to be exciting. We’ll start getting more results come our way.’