Unwanted No.1 to superstar No.7: 'Incredible story' behind evolution ...

Jahrome Hughes has taken a path few footballers take to elite NRL success.

The Storm’s star halfback has arguably been the best player in the competition this season and is short odds to collect a maiden Dally M Medal next Wednesday night.

What’s no doubt far more important for the playmaker though is team success and a Storm premiership, which Hughes and his teammates are standing on the doorstep of.

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Melbourne blazed a trail of dominance through 2024, leaving many opponents in their wake as they marched to a convincing minor premiership win, finishing four points clear over back-to-back-to-back champions Penrith.

Hughes was not only a huge reason, but the main reason why, steering a ship that was missing several stars at times throughout the season including Cam Munster (missed nine games), Xavier Coates (10 games) and Ryan Papenhuyzen (six games).

While Hughes has been a genuine gun over the past few seasons, in 2024, he established himself as a top five player in the NRL.

“I think he is,” rugby league great Greg Alexander said when asked by foxsports.com.au if Hughes was the Storm’s most important player this finals series.

“I’ve always said Cameron Munster, but because of Cam’s injuries and what he’s had to miss this season, and he still needs surgery at the end of the year, so it sort of leaves him a bit short.”

“I guess Harry Grant has been that [Storm’s most important player] too but I think Jahrome has jumped the queue.”

THE JOURNEY

Before this season and perhaps even now, many might have been surprised to learn that Hughes played one game apiece for two Queensland clubs before finding his way to Melbourne.

Hailing from Wellington, Hughes moved with his family to the Gold Coast when he was a teenager, attending rugby league nursery Palm Beach Currumbin.

A highly-touted fullback, he signed with the Titans’ Toyota Cup team as a 17-year-old and would play 45 games for the Gold Coast in the National Youth Competition.

During his stint at the Titans, then first grade coach John Cartwright called up an 18-year-old Hughes to make his NRL debut in Round 17, 2013.

Playing the Panthers in Darwin, the Titans were thrashed 40-18, but Hughes, in the No. 1 jersey, showed glimpses that he belonged, running for 103 metres.

He was dropped the following week. He’d have to wait a long three years before another NRL opportunity presented itself.

At the end of the 2014 season, Hughes headed to Townsville after signing a deal with the Blackhawks, a Cowboys feeder club.

He was everything the Blackhawks asked for and more and was picked as fullback for the 2015 Queensland Cup Team of the Year.

On the back of that successful season, Hughes signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys for 2016.

After a strong start to the season in Queensland Cup, Hughes was knocking the door down for a return to first grade.

That would come in Round 12, 2016 - some 1058 days after his sole NRL appearance.

With superstar Johnathan Thurston out, Hughes was named at five-eighth for a clash against the Dragons on Wollongong, scoring a terrific solo try in a 14-10 loss.

Jahrome Hughes of the Cowboys is tackled by Tyson Frizell and Dunamis Lui during their round 12 NRL match between the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the North Queensland Cowboys at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, Saturday, May 28, 2016. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)Source: AAP

While he would again be dropped after just one game, he wouldn’t have to wait nearly as long for another opportunity.

Melbourne must have liked what they had seen from Hughes in that game as well as his consistent form in Queensland Cup, because just a month after his sole Cowboys appearance, the Storm signed Hughes from 2017.

In Melbourne, he was in a talented fullback room alongside future Hall of Famer Billy Slater and Scott Drinkwater while any path to a role in the halves was thwarted by Cooper Cronk, Cam Munster and Brodie Croft.

At that stage though, the Storm saw him as a fullback and he provided handy depth cover for an ageing Slater over the next two seasons.

In Round 16 of the 2017 season, Hughes made his Storm debut.

Playing at fullback in jersey No. 22, Hughes scored a try in a 25-24 loss to the Roosters.

It was an eerily similar try to his first NRL four pointer a year earlier, in that he received the ball about 20 metres from the try line down the left edge, dummied, cut inside and beat several defenders to score.

Hughes would play 15 games for the Storm across the 2017 and 2018 seasons before finally earning a full-time opportunity in 2019.

THE SWITCH TO HALFBACK

Hughes played five games at halfback at the back end of the 2018 season, with Bellamy explaining the decision at the time.

“When Billy didn’t play for a long period of time, Jahrome came in and did a great job at fullback so we just thought he deserved to stay in the team,” the Storm coach said in 2018.

“Sometimes you don’t get the opportunity to leave them in the team but with the halfback position we thought he was the best man for the job.”

When Slater retired at the end of the 2018 season, and with Drinkwater injured, Hughes was named the Storm’s opening day fullback to kick off the 2019 campaign.

With Hughes at the back that season, Melbourne won 14 games and lost four, before he was shifted to halfback in Round 23 due to the emergence of Ryan Papenhuyzen.

It was a seamless transition and one the Storm never looked back on.

While the Storm were outed in the preliminary finals that season by the Roosters, with Hughes at halfback in 2020, Melbourne reached the grand final and defeated Penrith.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 24: Jahrome Hughes poses for a photo during a Melbourne Storm NRL media opportunity at AAMI Park on September 24, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

A DALLY M YEAR?

2024 has truly been a banner year for Hughes.

While most would have had Hughes within the top five or six halfbacks in the comp before a ball was kicked this season, his form rocketed him into the top echelon of players in the competition.

He was the best player on the NRL’s best team, and he had to do it with a fair bit of star power out for chunks of the year, most notably halves partner Munster.

Alexander tipped his cap to Hughes to be able to navigate Melbourne to 19 wins and a minor premiership despite the adversity the Storm faced at times.

“Just how consistent he’s been, just how good he’s been so many times this year. He’s had to do it without Cameron Munster basically,” he said.

“Cam was out for a long time, played injured to start the season and I guess Papenhuyzen has been the same, in and out. Not that that’s a massive thing for Jahrome, but they do combine pretty well. Paps reads him very well.”

More known as a running threat, with Alexander calling him the “best running half” in the game, the trait that Hughes has been able to improve year on year is the ability to set his teammates up.

For the season, Hughes placed third in the comp for try assists (30), four behind Maroons and Dragons star Ben Hunt.

That didn’t mean his running game suffered.

Hughes’ 19 line breaks led all halfbacks with 13 the next best while his 93 tackle busts were easily the most in the NRL for halves.

He added a handy nine tries as well.

“Jahrome’s been the mainstay. And it’s just he’s all around game. We’ve known he’s a great runner on the ball, but just his control and passing and kicking,” Alexander said.

“I’ve been saying this for years, it’s an underrated part of his game his kicking, I’ve always thought that. His short kicking game, his ability to create chances for his team off the back of his foot, his boot and also his passing. He’s got it all.”

“This year it’s just been so consistent, so consistently good. If he’s not the best, he’s in the top two or three players in the comp for sure.

Alexander labelled Hughes’ rise from a fullback that bounced around clubs to become one of the game’s best halfbacks an “incredible story”.

“To have a game at the Cowboys, a game at the Titans, and be a fullback and then arrive at Melbourne and be a fullback, but not necessarily be the fullback, and then find your way into the number seven jumper,” Alexander told foxsports.com.au.

“It’s a different path he has travelled, but to be able to put it together and look like he’s played halfback for all of his life is pretty good.

“It’s pretty impressive.”

What would make Hughes’ story even more impressive? A Dally M Medal around his neck and a second premiership ring next week.

As it stands, you’d have to back him to collect both.