A confidence-building conversation with Kalyn Ponga’s father Andre convinced Charley Lahmert to leave her New Zealand home and chase her rugby league dream in Newcastle.
That was two years ago, when Lahmert was a promising 17-year-old hooker, and she has not looked back.
The diminutive dummy-half has since been named Newcastle’s Tarsha Gale Player of the Year for the past two seasons, won the 2026 NSW Women’s Premiership Player of the Year award, and helped the Knights all but lock up a fifth-straight NRLW finals berth.
Charley Lahmert Try
Beating several defenders in a 30-metre run, Lahmert scored one of 10 tries in Newcastle’s 56-22 rout of the Bulldogs at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.
“Obviously as a hooker, I see the cues, and I saw there was one marker and a quick play the ball so I decided to go,” Lahmert told NRL.com.
“Then I don’t even know what happened but I was just beating players and got through somehow to score.”
Born in Wellington, and a product of the Bell Block Marist club in Taranaki, Lahmert made her NRLW debut alongside Knights Tarsha Gale teammate Emily McArthur in an agonising 25-24 home loss to Wests Tigers on August 22.
She enjoyed her first NRLW win and scored her first top-flight try a week later in a 40-6 thumping of the Cowboys in Townsville, then played a similar role against the Bulldogs on Saturday night as the Knights posted their highest single-game score in NRLW history.
Charley Lahmert Try
“I was talking to Andre a bit before I came over, and he wanted me to trial for the Tarsha Gale team here, so I came over, trialled for that and made the team,” Lahmert explained.
“His brother Shane is from Taranaki and he coached me playing touch when I was younger, so he put in a good word for me, and I started chatting to Dre from there.
“The club sorted out a homestay for me and I’ve lived with them ever since.
“I’ve been playing Tarsha Gale, then last year I got a few games in Harvey Norman and haven’t looked back, really. I love the club and everything they’ve done for me.
“It was an awesome feeling to debut with Emily a few weeks ago. We played Tarsha Gale together, so to go up together and play NRLW, which is the end goal for everyone, it was a cool feeling.
“I’m super-grateful to be able to play NRLW, and to have these last two wins after that loss on debut, which was heart-breaking, I’m just happy to have been there for all this.”
Match: Knights v Bulldogs
Round 10 -
home Team
Knights
5th Position
away Team
Bulldogs
9th Position
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Lahmert has remained grounded despite her rapid rise through the ranks.
“It’s a privilege to receive all those awards and be acknowledged like that but I just try to stay consistent, not be complacent, and treat every season like a fresh start,” she said.
“I just try to do all the little one-percenters off the field and have good habits that will help me on the field.”
Coming off the bench in rotation with NSW and Australian hooker Olivia Higgins, Lahmert has averaged around 41 minutes a game in her three NRLW appearances for Newcastle.
Lahmert was ready to finish on the field against the Bulldogs but Higgins replaced her for the final 10 minutes after being cleared of a significant left-arm injury.
A Tayla Predebon hat-trick!
“Having our senior players to go to, they have a lot of experience, and with Liv playing her 50th game for the Knights tonight, having her playing the same position, I’m super-grateful to have someone like her to go to,” Lahmert said.
Back-to-back wins against the Cowboys and Bulldogs took the Knights to 10 points and almost certainly secured sixth spot at worst going into their last game of the regular season against the second-placed Titans in Newcastle next Sunday.
“When we brought Charley in three weeks ago, people asked me how many minutes she might play, things like that, and we’ve shown all confidence in her and she’s playing 40 to 50 minutes,” Knights coach Ben Jeffries said.
“All she does is go out there and play with confidence, she plays what she sees, and that’s what we ask of her. She’s got a heart of gold, Charley, like the rest of the group, but she’s certainly playing way above her weight at the moment.
“She’s a different hooker to Liv. Liv’s more of a manipulator of the ruck and runs a few times, where Charley, every time there’s a marker down or a quick play-the-ball, she’s off.
“Probably the challenge for us is to start reading the ruck with her a little bit more and push into space a bit more.”
Knights captain Kayla Romaniuk has enjoyed watching young guns like Lahmert and 18-year-old McArthur take such giant strides so early in their careers.
“It’s amazing. They’ve gone through the pathways, so for them to come in, they don’t look out of place at all, which is great for us,” Romaniuk said.
“They’ve stuck to the process, we’ve trusted them, they’ve trusted the process and followed the coaching staff’s orders, and it’s been really great.”
Jeffries continued: “Senior players and the leadership group need credit around that, for instilling that belief in our younger players.”
“They don’t play like that unless they’re part of a group that’s inclusive with them and surrounds them and gives them that confidence.”
