HORNETS ARE WE —
Friend’s Fox hunts
and 2019 Fox Memorial wins in 2011 to be (or made many a local proud Howick have been) a Hornet. The again Hornets have their tails up this season chasing a third le. Auckland Rugby League tit Ahead of the business end of the season, the squad’s playmaker and captain, Jethro Friend spoke with JON RAWLINSON.
“You don’t see too many captains playing on the wing! As a hooker, you have to be a leader regardless of whether you’re the captain as well, managing the forwards and making decisions from the middle, so it does fit in.”
Growing up, my brother, a former Howick Hornets’ senior, had a poster of legendary Kiwis’ halfback Clayton Friend on his wall, whereas Hornets’ captain, Jethro Friend, was raised in the shadow of the real thing. “Both sides of my family have strong rugby league connections. One of my cousins (Bronson Harrison) played in the NRL and for the Kiwis, as did a few of my uncles as well as my dad [Clayton Friend],” Jethro explains. “I guess there has been a bit of pressure from myself to live up to the name and do my family proud. Sometimes I had to, maybe, work a little bit harder to prove myself because people expected it because of my last name.” From Clayton to his cousin (Warriors’ foundation captain) Dean Bell and more, Jethro’s extended family has such strong connections to the game that it’s a veritable ‘who’s who’. Even his grandmother, Cathy Friend (who passed away in June this year) was practically rugby league royalty, receiving a Queens Service Medal (QSM) for services to the sport in 2008. However, to Hornets’ fans Jethro was a Friend indeed (not to mention player of the season) when captaining the club’s premier squad to victory in the Fox Memorial Shield in 2019. The final was a nail-biter decided in extra time, with Jethro contributing two tries to the tally during a man of the match effort; it couldn’t have been scripted any better. However, being 20 points up after a cakewalk certainly would have been easier, I suggest. Jethro laughs:
8 | eastlife | august 2021
Photo Wayne Martin
Jethro Friend.
“Yeah, I suppose so! When you’re playing it is better not to have that kind of pressure, but in terms of creating memories it’s not too bad, aye? It was pretty special, definitely.” Although things haven’t run smoothly as possible in this year’s Fox Memorial Premiership – the Hornets were needing a strong finish, as www.eastlife.co.nz
