Kevin Locke has had a unique career in rugby league, including 88 games for the Warriors and eight tests with the Kiwis, all starting at just four years old with his local club, the Northcote Tigers.

“I started playing when I was four years old, and my aunty Sandy bought me a pair of boots. My cousin was playing as well as Alex Glenn. We were all brought up in the same neighbourhood.”

“That’s how it all started, running around with them, I came through the grades at Northcote and made it through into the side that was playing in the Phelan when I was in under-16s.”

“I got the opportunity to go and play on the wing and we played Pt Chev in my first game where I scored seven tries, just because I was faster. I scored four or five of them off kicking from the scrum. I enjoyed my time there especially coming into senior football with all those guys that were there. Northcote has a lot of talent.”

Locke attributes a lot of his success through his younger years to Frank Harold, who was his foster dad and a coach throughout the grades that played a key role in his development.

“I give a lot of credit to Frank Harold, especially when I was in my first year of Fox football and understanding the game a bit more. Coming from a Phelan team, where trainings are more about force back, through into the Fox and then onto the Bartercard Cup.”

Locke made his professional debut for North Harbour at just 16, before being ruled out due to his young age. The following season, the Auckland Lions came into the competition and picked him up while still just 17 years old at Northcote College.

“I’m still at school and playing with Lance Hohaia and Nathan Fien, and this was before the Junior Warriors had started playing so they had Warriors development players playing in the Auckland Lions too. I didn’t make too many Auckland rep sides growing up because of my size. I worked hard with Frank Harold, who was the assistant coach, looking at video and what not. “

“I knew I was talented enough.”

“I started heading towards the NRL, I played in the Toyota Cup game against Canberra Raiders, and they kicked it towards the dead ball line, I collected it and grubbered it and ran along the side-line to score.”

“I remember going to the airport and Ivan Cleary pulled me to the side and that game had actually been my first game back from injury and he said, do you want to play NRL? Well, you’re going to play next week, and I was buzzing, like you know, just about to board the plane to head home and I’m fizzing.”

“I ended telling my work friends first, I was working at Mt Smart at Spotless Services, and I said that I couldn’t work that weekend because I’d be playing. Then the night before, I told my family and the club hooked them up with tickets and in that environment, it was probably one of the biggest moments for me.”

Locke scored two tries on debut and racked up 26 NRL tries and 152 points as one of the Warriors and NRL’s star players, through a period that included a trip to the NRL Grand Final. Following the arrival of Sam Tomkins and changing of coaches, Locke looked for an opportunity elsewhere to get back to playing fullback where he had been thriving.

Locke and his manager decided to take up an opportunity to head over to Salford, where he was a million-pound player creating instant pressure to perform. While overseas, Locke was setback by significant injuries and unable to find the opportunity to replicate his NRL success in the Super League environment through short stints at Salford and Wakefield.

“In Salford, I was going through a back injury. I had two prolapsed discs while over there and I was getting steroid injections just to take the field.”

Following his stint in the UK, Locke had opportunities to crack it back into the NRL, through a train and trial at Manly as well as connecting with Craig Bellamy and Frank Ponissi at the Melbourne Storm. Locke ended up joining Melbourne’s feeder team, the Sunshine Coast Falcons.

“I had coffee with Frank, and Billy was hanging up the boots, so I could’ve been next in line, and I played at the Sunshine Coast to prove myself. I was four weeks into the season, and I came back home for my younger sister’s wedding, and I had a nine-year-old boy. Having to travel and be away from him was a tough, tough ask.”

“It was already hard enough, figuring out what I want to do with my life and my career, so I went back to the Sunshine Coast, and I said to the coach, I don’t think I want to play anymore. I think it’s best for me to go home, and they were good about it.”

In 2017, Kevin Locke joined one of his best mates and co-worker, Dylan Moses at Pt Chevalier. “There’s a lot of loyalty behind that club, all the players that came in have stayed there, they haven’t moved and that’s because the club has a great culture.”

That year the Pirates topped the ladder, and the side made the SAS Fox Memorial Premiership Grand Final. Unfortunately, Locke only lasted four minutes before suffering yet another back injury.

Locke headed back over to Australia for another crack before the disruptions from COVID-19 began in 2020, but met his wife, Brooke, and they both came back to New Zealand through that period. “We ended up isolating together here in New Zealand, and the rest is history.”

After COVID cleared, they headed overseas to Australia and France, tying the knot and receiving the news that they were expecting. Deciding it was time to settle down, they came back home, which gave Locke the opportunity to re-join old mates and his junior club of Northcote.

“I hadn’t been back there since 2014, so it was a pretty different feeling. I’m playing for my local club that got me to where I played most of my life and my professional career, so it was a pretty surreal feeling.”

Throughout his youth and career, Locke has faced battles on and off the field, opening up about his struggles with depression and mental health, and how being home has helped him find stability and support.

“When you don’t know what to do in life, even if you can’t talk to your mate, but they know what you’re going through, it was cool to have my close mates like Dylan and Thomas there. Doing something physical and working to keep yourself busy can help with that process. I wouldn’t be in the position I am, now with how much I love working if it wasn’t for them, doing scaffolding with Thomas was something I really enjoyed.”

Now over a year sober, Locke has found his passion off the field through his relationship, starting a family and working with his mates.

“I just love going to work because the boys are close but finding my passion and love of work is something that every footballer has to go through in one way or another. It’s not my ambition to make it back into the NRL, but to still stay in the picture and perform as the years get older and older – but it’s hard to keep up with these young fellas.”

That’s exactly what Locke is doing, returning to his junior club for the final game of the regular season where they upset Manukau and made a run in the playoffs to take out the Fox Championship title, defeating Pakuranga in the Grand Final at Mt Smart.

This Grand Final win was the highest achievement for the club since Northcote won Fox Memorial Shield in 2001, where Kevin Locke was the ball boy in the Grand Final. Locke and Moses stayed behind after the game to support their former Pt Chevalier teammates who are still playing there from 2017.

“That was probably one of the best Fox games. Bugger all penalties, less than ten drop balls, I’ve got to give it to the referee (Anthony Eliott) who controlled the game well, it was how football should be done. It was probably one of the best Fox games I’ve watched to be honest, especially having mates on both sides.”

Locke plans to continue to stay involved with local rugby league, whether it be through playing or looking to move into a coaching role over the next few years.

Locke appeared on Once a Warrior with Monty Betham earlier this week:

Article added: Friday 09 September 2022