Member for Shortland, Pat Conroy, has weighed in on the furore surrounding the news that long time NRL caller, Craig ‘Hammo’ Hamilton, would not be calling the home games for the Newcastle Knights next year.

In a speech to Parliament, Pat Conroy said ” Hammo’s calls are what Knights fans expect. …The Knights are a religion in Newcastle and Hammo is part of that religion. Hammo’s calls must go on!”
 
Hammo, who has been a local fixture at Knights games for 15 years, is still employed by ABC Newcastle, but has been told that his last call will be the Titans game at the end of this month.
 
He told the Newcastle Herald “My first grandfinal broadcast was in 1995, which was Terry Lamb’s last game, and I’ve worked on grandfinals, State of Origin series and Test matches since then.
 
“I can honestly say I love it as much today as I did when I started. I’d love to keep going and I certainly didn’t choose to stop calling.
 
“But the ABC has decided to go in a different direction next season and I’ve got to respect that decision. But let me say this, I don’t believe I have called my last game of footy.”

“They want to hear Hammo's voice on the radio” says @PatConroy1 pic.twitter.com/1qzqevmbWG

— Ben Millington (@bmillington) August 1, 2019