Kaeo Weekes has literally carried the weight of his grandfather’s St George premiership legacy on his shoulders

Engulfing his tiny body, Weekes remembers they were heavy; not only were they made of leather and packed tight with wool, they also carried the weight of rugby league history.

A centre for six years during St George’s famed run of 11 straight premierships between 1956-1966, his grandfather, Geoff, won two grand finals in that era.

Geoff’s name is in the record books as a tryscorer in one of the Red V’s most famed title wins – the 1959 grand final victory over Manly in a season where the Dragons went undefeated, boasting names like Norm Provan, Johnny Raper and Harry Bath.

“I remember seeing his old shoulder pads, his old footy boots and stuff around my grandparents house,” Weekes tells this masthead.

“I tried the shoulder pads on when I was a kid.

“Man, they were heavy. Full of leather. The old school ones. They’re heavy dry, imagine playing in the wet with those things on that would be worse.”

Kaeo knew from a young age that his pop played footy.

“I knew he played in a great team. I knew that team won like 11 straight, yeah,” he says.

“Back then I was too young to ever ask him about the pads or the boots and know the stories behind them.

Geoff wore the iconic Red V for eight seasons, then switched allegiances to Parramatta, where he played the final two seasons of his career before retiring in 1963.

Weekes was 13 years old when Geoff passed away in 2015.

“It’s pretty sad, I never got to ask him more questions, I should have asked more about his time playing rugby league. But when you’re young, you can be naive,” he says.

“You just say, “Oh, that’s cool.”

“Obviously there’s books, there’s the internet and old footage and things like that which have helped me research and realise exactly what it is he and that team achieved.

“And the significance of the era that he played in.”

There might have been no stud earrings and mullets back in that era.

But old, black and white snippets of Geoff breaking tackles and using his turn of speed look eerily similar to today’s Raiders star wearing the No.1 jumper.

Weekes’ father Chris reckons his son has always been a chip off the old(er) block.

“There’s a photo of Kaeo from under 7s and he’s got the ball wrapped under one arm with his hand out to palm,” Chris says.

“Then we found a photo of my dad that was a mirror image of that.”

Those photos are now hanging up on his wall at home.

“It was as close as you can get without setting it up,” he says.

“Kaeo was playing under 6 and he could already swap the ball from hand to hand to palm, we sort of realised there was something a little different about him.”

As for Weekes and the speed he’s got to burn?

That’s also in the DNA.

“Oh yeah, Kaeo has always been fast from the start. But my dad Geoff was pretty quick too, I used to run as well,” Chris says.

“We all did athletics, it’s almost like a Weekes tradition.”

Just a few months after Geoff died, Weekes signed his first ever deal with an NRL club, joining Manly as a 14-year-old before making his Sea Eagles debut in 2022.

While he never got to see his grandson play NRL, Geoff spent countless hours watching Weekes run around for Asquith Magpies up in the north of Sydney.

Not one to gloat over his own achievements or talents, Chris remembers Geoff as also being reluctant to take any credit for Weekes’ obvious aptitude for rugby league.

But not when Geoff was perched up on the hill at Storey Park in Hornsby.

“My dad and my wife Renee’s dad, he coached rugby league too before he passed away. They used to always discuss Kaeo in what I would say was a grandfatherly manner,” Chris recalls.

“As Kaeo got older they would both sit on the hill up at Storey Park and have discussions about what skill Kaeo had came from which grandfather.”

A decade on, Weekes will now line-up for his first ever finals series, kicking off in Sunday’s qualifying final against Brisbane at GIO Stadium.

Now 23 years old, Weekes continues to realise the magnitude of the success Geoff achieved wearing those heavy shoulder pads and leather boots over 60 years ago.

And how many players go by without getting close to a whiff of glory.

“You talk about people playing 200 or 300 NRL games and not making a grand final,” Weekes said.

“I can say we are on the right path (to a title win).

“But beyond the first week, there is still a lot of footy to go.

“But to be in and around a similar thing to what my grandfather did is pretty special.

“We’ll take it week by week and see what happens but to make it to a grand final, and hopefully win just one, that would change your life forever.

“So for him to have been part of a team that won 11 grand finals, and to have played in a couple of grand finals himself is unbelievable.”

Weekes’ path to NRL stardom hasn’t always been straightforward.

Despite being considered a prodigious talent, who also excelled as schoolboy rugby star, Weekes struggled to establish himself at Manly, stuck behind Tom Trbojevic at fullback.

Taking a leap of faith, he joined the Raiders last year with no guarantees.

Weekes started his Raiders career, battling to earn a starting halves spot but has now cemented his place in the no. 1 jumper, where he has been one of the form fullbacks of the competition.

It has set-up a scintillating shout-out between the speed demon that is Weekes and the Broncos rock star that is Reece Walsh.

Canberra skipper Joe Tapine has pledged to leave nothing out on the GIO Stadium turf to ensure Weekes is the one who comes out on top.

“He was playing six for us last year and now he’s our best starting fullback by a mile,” Tapine said.

“He’s been unreal. He is one of those players that just looks good when he is gliding across the grass, I wish I could move like that.

“Man, he can create something out of nothing. Things people don’t notice, like when he pokes his nose through when he is returning the ball, it’s huge for us.

“It’s our job as middles to make sure Walsh doesn’t look anywhere near as good as Kaeo.

“I’ll be trying to do that on Sunday.”

While the Canberra star’s final fate is yet to be written, the stars of the rugby league universe have aligned for the Weekes family this weekend.

Normally, Chris and wife Renee are juggling their weekends between Kaeo’s games and those of his youngster sisters NRLW Sharks star Grace-Lee, and Krystal, who play for Mounties in the Harvey Norman women’s premiership.

“Thankfully, Grace-Lee and Krystal would have already played by Sunday so we don’t have to decide between games, we’ll all be there on Sunday to watch Kaeo play.

“I think Canberra can win (the title) this year but Kaeo is still early in his career, but everyone wants to win one.

“Obviously, whatever happens we’ll be super proud of Kaeo regardless.”

Only time will tell if Weekes can add a third grand final win to the family’s already remarkable rugby league legacy.

But his father Chris has been sure about one thing all along - Weekes was always destined for Sunday’s blockbuster in the nation’s capital.

“He was just good when he played as a kid,” Chris said.

“Till this day, I watch him play and he still surprises me, and the thing is he still have plenty of growth left and even more to give.

“I believe Kaeo was always destined to play in the NRL.”

Originally published as Kaeo Weekes has literally carried the weight of his grandfather’s St George premiership legacy on his shoulders