'I felt I belonged': Nick Pelgrave makes NRL officiating debut

When Nick Pelgrave saw his phone light up with Jared Maxwell’s name days out from the NRL’s season opener, he knew it meant one of two things.

Either Maxwell – the NRL’s general manager of elite officiating – was calling to tell him to keep working hard in 2022 and he might get his call up to first grade or he was actually – finally - getting his NRL refereeing debut.

Luckily for Pelgrave, it was the call for that long-awaited debut.

On March 12, the Queensland Rugby League High Performance Unit match official ticked off a major career goal when he ran the line during the New Zealand Warriors and St George Illawarra Dragons clash on the Sunshine Coast.

While it was the call he had been hoping for, it certainly came sooner than he expected.

“Jared had had a conversation with me at the beginning of last year… he was telling me to go to state league, show them my character, perform well and maybe in the middle of the season I’d get my opportunity,” Pelgrave said.

“Unfortunately COVID and the Project Apollo protocols meant that it didn’t eventuate.

“When the phone lit up with his name (ahead of Round 1, 2022), I knew it was going to be one of two things.

“It could be the same convo as 2021 and he’d tell me to put my head down and that I’m on the radar. But, as it turned out, it was that I was going to debut.

“It wasn’t unexpected in the sense that he had clued me up last season, but it was very much unexpected for it to happen in Round 1.

“Round 1 sets a precedent… it’s the officiating standard for the season. They try to wheel out some pretty top-notch kind of people to establish that standard.”

Pelgrave, who has been refereeing for 16 years, said it had been a long journey to reach the NRL, but one that was definitely worth it.

As he ran out at Sunshine Coast Stadium on March 12, he had his wife Jordan, his five-month-old daughter Mila, his father Wayne, his mother Bernadette and sister Caitlin sitting in the stands.

He only took up refereeing because his former coach at Albany Creek Crushers had told him he needed to do the officiating course because of the way he spoke to referees as a player.

His coach thought it would be good for him to cop some of his own medicine.

Now, he is an NRL-level referee and he said it just felt like he belonged there.

“It was a really natural environment for me,” Pelgrave said of his debut.

“As soon as I was out there, I felt as though I really belonged in that environment, in that first grade environment.

“After we presented the jersey and got into the swing of warm up, I just knew that I had a job to do. I've worked hard to get here and I felt I belonged.”

The most emotional aspect of his debut, however, came through the presence of his family.

He said if he had made his NRL officiating debut midway through 2021, then his daughter Mila wouldn’t have been in the stands. She wasn’t born yet.

He doesn’t even know if the protocols would have allowed him to be near his family on the day.

But instead, he was able to have his parents, wife, daughter and sister with him before the match, with his father presenting him with his game day jersey.

Wayne was lost for words as he celebrated his son – and Pelgrave said that is not a common occurrence.

“The journey to get to first grade has been a jagged one, as most journeys are,” Pelgrave said.

“It’s not a linear process. It’s one of those things that family ride the waves every step of the way with you. The ups, downs, whatever you want to call it.

“To have Dad be lost for words when he was presenting the jersey… he’s usually someone who is so measured and generally knows exactly what he wants to say, so for him to be lost for words demonstrates the magnitude of that moment.

“I felt like that meant more than if he had read from a script. It was purely heartfelt and really reflected what this moment meant, not only to me but my wife and our baby daughter, my mum, dad, my sister and those important people who ride that wave with you.”

Pelgrave will now go down in history as NRL official #159.

He said to be on the list with the likes of Bill Harrigan, Shayne Hayne, Ben Cummins and many more, was very significant.

He’s already been rewarded with a Round 2 appointment, on the sideline for the North Queensland Cowboys versus Canberra Raiders match on Saturday, March 19.

And he knows he wants more and more.

“I can only maintain what’s in my realm of control and do things to the best of my ability over the course of days and weeks and seasons,” Pelgrave said.

“But I’m most certainly hoping I keep getting that call-up.”

Pelgrave made his Hostplus Cup refereeing debut in Round 3 of 2015 and is now an example of the pathway officials can take through the game.

Queensland Rugby League state match officials manager Clayton Sharpe said it was a recognition of not only Pelgrave’s hard work, but where the right development can take you.

“For the match officials in the QRL, they come through a fair process,” Sharpe said.

“We develop them through those grades and offer learning opportunities. When they get to that Hostplus Cup level, we call them NRL ready.

“Nick’s been one of those guys that’s been NRL ready, in our view, for a number of years.  

“This shows them that there’s a pathway… it allows them to go to that next level.”