Moving on can be hard at first.
It’s rare players stay at the one club for their whole career.
For Jamie Buhrer an initial move to Newcastle was unthinkable.
He had played his entire NRL career for the Sea Eagles.
“A year before I did come, my manager said there had been some enquiries and at this point I had two years to run on my Manly deal,” Buhrer said.
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“There was no way I was going to leave with two years to run.
“While I appreciated and respected the fact they asked the question, never in my mind was I looking to move.
“I had a young daughter at the time and my wife Grace was pregnant with our second child.”
But a cultural shift, a lot of change and interest from the Knights soon drove his decision to call the Hunter his home.
“I went on to have a good year, 2016, think it was Trent Barrett’s first year and it was a bit of a mixed bag,” Buhrer explained.
“A lot of change, a lot of new people coming in, senior players moving on.
“It was difficult with a whole cultural shift.
“I got to the end of the year with still another year to run and as far as I was aware, they were happy to have me for the next year.
“I felt as safe as you could feel.
“The day after our presentation night, I was a little bit dusty and I got a call from my manager. He said Newcastle are really interested.
“I said that’s good, but I’ve got another year at Manly.
“He said you should really look into Newcastle, it’s a good opportunity for you to get more footy because we can’t guarantee anything after this coming year.”
At this point Buhrer had a second child on the way.
Moving wasn’t his initial thought but he needed to do what was best for himself and his family.
He accepted Nathan Brown’s requests for a chat about the possibility of becoming a Knight.
“I started having good conversations with Nathan Brown and (Darren) Mooney so there certainly was a part of me that was interested,” Buhrer said.
“Especially in the vision that they had, obviously Newcastle weren’t doing great at the time, but they were brought in to bring on some change.
“That aspect really did excite me.”
Following an in-depth conversation with his wife, manager and best friends his thought process changed.
So, he met up with the Knights coach and it didn’t take long to convince him.
“I had a sit down with Browny and Moons at Talulah with Grace,” he said.
“We had a great feed and a discussion about what they wanted from me and what they wanted to do with the club.
“I was hooked after that.
“I understood it was a big job at hand coming here but I was excited by the prospects.
“I had to make a leap of faith.”
