World view: Neame eyes Christchurch visit in October

A visit to his South Island stomping grounds has whet North Queensland prop Griffin Neame’s appetite to push for a Kiwis recall ahead of the Rugby League World Cup later this year.  

Reinstated to the Cowboys’ starting pack after 11 games coming off the bench, Neame didn’t have to look too far for personal positives at Christchurch’s magnificent One NZ Stadium – despite the 38-20 defeat to the Warriors.  

"The loss hurt but being able to play here in Christchurch in the new stadium – I grew up just down the road – it’s pretty cool,” Neame told NRL.com.  

"My family’s here, half of Greymouth’s here, so it was pretty special.” 

Born and bred on the West Coast, Neame spent two seasons in the Canterbury Rugby League youth ranks with Halswell Hornets.

He and his dad, former West Coast and Canterbury rep Chris, drove the six-hour round trip from Greymouth over the Southern Alps and back each gameday.    

Neame managed to duck out of Cowboys camp to watch Greymouth Greyhounds edge out Hornby Panthers 28-26 in a grassroots thriller in the CRL Men’s Premiership

Another Greymouth High School product, former Kiwi and current Warriors assistant coach Slade Griffin, was also an enthusiastic spectator at Leslie Park.  

“They’re all my mates from back home in the Greyhounds team, I got to go watch them on Saturday arvo and they got a win, too,” Neame said.  

“They all come to the game today, they had a good weekend and stuff like this you can’t take for granted.” 

As well as hailing the Greyhounds-led revival in the previously struggling rugby league heartland of the West Coast, Neame was struck by the rampant fervour for the NRL in the South Island’s biggest city – underpinned by the countrywide Warriors-mania that shows no signs of abating.  

"Rugby league down here in Christchurch is getting bigger and bigger,” Neame said after toiling in the engine room trenches in front of a deafening sell-out crowd of 25,365.

“They’ve got this stadium, it’s one of the best stadiums I’ve played at.

“You can see how big rugby league’s getting down here. When I was growing up it was all rugby, but I feel like league’s slowly closing the gap.” 

Debuting for the Cowboys as a 20-year-old in 2021, Neame brought up his 100-game milestone for the club last month.  

He broke into the New Zealand team in 2023 and scored a try in the momentous 30-0 rout of Australia in the Pacific Championships final in Hamilton. But after featuring in all three Tests of the Kiwis’ 2024 campaign, the front-rower missed out last year with Naufahu Whyte and Xavier Willison leapfrogging him.

Competition for Kiwi World Cup spots is only getting more intense with the likes of Tanner Stowers-Smith emerging in a selection pool that already includes international staples James Fisher-Harris, Joseph Tapine and Moses Leota.  

But Neame is keeping a steely focus on representing his country again – and another opportunity to play at a packed One NZ Stadium.

The Kiwis face the Cook Islands and the Kiwi Ferns take on France in a Christchurch double-header on October 25, the only RLWC fixtures to be played in New Zealand.  

“Any opportunity to wear the Kiwis jersey, you take it, so I’ll be doing all I can to get in that spot," he said.

“Obviously [the Cowboys] haven’t gone too well the last few weeks, but I’ve just got to play some better footy and hopefully I’m there – fingers crossed. 

“It’ll be pretty special, everyone wants to play in the World Cup.”  

Following an impressive 8-2 run, the Cowboys have slipped out of the top eight after three straight losses.  

It doesn’t get any easier in Round 17, hosting a Penrith side chastened by only their second loss of 2026 last week on the Gold Coast.  

“It doesn’t feel like we’re too far away,” Neame said.

“We’ve sort of gone away from that football we were playing when we were winning. It’s only small things, but we’re digging holes [for ourselves]. 

“We’ve just got to clean up those little things and I think we’ll get back to where we were playing."