A shock rumour that the girlfriend of Newcastle Knights star Jackson Hastings is feuding with the partner of one of his teammates has surfaced just as the footy couple celebrate the birth of their daughter.
Despite being one of the club’s top players, Hastings hasn’t been picked for the Knights’ first-grade team this year, even though the club has only won three of its eight games to sit twelfth on the ladder as they struggle to score points.
Instead, he’s being paid an estimated $800,000 a year to play in reserve grade, with fans left scratching their heads over his inability to earn a spot in the club’s top squad, especially after he was one of their best as they shot to a fifth-place finish last season.
Now, a sensational rumour suggests Hastings is on the outer with the team – not because his form is bad, but because his partner Amelia Smith is feuding with the spouse of another Knights star.
A recent column indicated the falling-out stemmed from a comment Smith had allegedly made, but the club has closed ranks and will not reveal what was said.
The feud apparently escalated when the unnamed fellow Knights player made his case to club powerbrokers who backed him over Hastings.
NRL star Jackson Hastings is pictured with his partner Amelia Smith, who is at the centre of a rumour about a feud between WAGs at the Newcastle Knights
Reports of the feud surfaced shortly after the couple welcomed their daughter Scottie
Hastings is one of the best players for the struggling Knights, leaving fans mystified about why he’s being paid an estimated $800,000 to run around in reserve grade this year
Knights insiders say this problem isn’t going away, and the longer Hastings remains locked out of first grade, the bigger the headache for the club.
We can now reveal the news of the alleged falling-out has cast a shadow over what should have been one of the happiest times of Hastings’ life.
Last month, he and Smith celebrated the birth of their daughter.
The couple revealed their little girl’s name, Scottie Hastings, alongside a series of tender photos and messages shared with fans.
The announcement drew congratulations from sports stars including Matildas big guns Sam Kerr and Caitlin Foord, plus NRL talents Latrell Mitchell and Ezra Mam.
‘Scottie Hastings. 13.04.25. The most perfect little girl. Nothing is more important than this little girl, our whole world,’ wrote Smith.
Hastings added: ‘Proud of you, you were unbelievable. And our little girl is the most perfect little thing in the whole world. Still pinching myself.’
About this time, Smith’s parents flew in from the UK to meet their new granddaughter.
The rumour would go a long way to explaining why Hastings hasn’t played first grade in 2025
Hastings (pictured with Smith) has been dogged by personality clashes throughout his career
Hastings’ partner and his in-laws were there to support him as he steered Newcastle’s reserve-grade side to a dramatic last-minute win over Souths in Sydney on Sunday, with Smith posting a clip of him kissing their daughter while he was still on the field after the victory.
The halfback set up the late try that won the match in another display that will have fans asking why he can’t break into the NRL side.
Earlier this year, footy Immortal, Knights icon and Nine commentator Andrew Johns was asking the same question.
After pointing out that Hastings’ kicking game is ‘up there with one of the best’, he rated him above one of the stars who has kept him out of the halfback spot, Tyson Gamble, and addressed other rumours that Hastings has clashed with stars at the Knights.
‘For the good of the team, you have to put that aside,’ Johns said.
‘Whether it’s the [Knights] CEO or someone else, you’ve got to get them all together and sort it out.’
Knights coach Adam O’Brien addressed the mystery over Hastings’ omission just ahead of the team’s NRL match against Souths on Saturday, which they won 30-4.
‘I think it would be unfair on Jackson to think that he’s the one that can come in and fix all of these things,’ O’Brien said, referring to problems the team is having across the field, not just in the halves.
‘There’s a number of other variables and I’m comfortable with sticking with the crew that we’ve had at the moment.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Hastings, Smith and the Knights for comment.
Rumours of clashes with teammates and club management are nothing new for Hastings, who played for the Roosters, Manly, Wests Tigers and UK teams Salford and Wigan before joining the Knights in 2023.
Hastings (centre) was one of the driving forces behind Newcastle making the finals as they stormed to a fifth-place finish last season, making his demotion as the side has struggled this season even harder to digest
The former Manly, Tigers and Roosters star heaped praise on British-born Smith, crediting her and her family with helping him become a ‘totally different person’
He exited the Roosters – where his famous father Kevin ‘Horrie’ Hastings became a club legend – under a cloud in 2016 after he was banished to reserve grade.
‘It’s been well-documented that I had a run-in with a few different people and it’s just sad the way it all ended at the Roosters,’ Hastings previously said.
‘I wish it didn’t end like that. I’ve loved that club since I was four years old and the way it ended has been rubbish, really.’
Hastings then switched to Manly and only played in 13 games over two seasons before getting released from his contract in June 2018 after reportedly getting into a physical clash with Sea Eagles skipper Daly Cherry-Evans.
He denied getting into a fight with the club legend but admitted getting senior figures at the team offside by breaking curfew to hit the town after a loss in what he confessed was a ‘f***ing stupid’ decision.
Three seasons in English footy followed before he returned to the Tigers, where he only lasted for the 2022 season before leaving as his relationship with then-coach Tim Sheens reportedly deteriorated.
In March last year, English footy great Jon Wilkin branded Hastings the most unlikeable player in rugby league, with the Aussie brushing his remarks off with a joke.
Johns, who has worked to help the halfback improve his game, defended Hastings in 2023 when he made headlines for a fiery sideline exchange with Tommy Talau after he broke his former Tigers teammate’s nose with a high shot.
‘I found him respectful [at the Roosters]. I think coming in as a halfback into a team like that, with big personalities… he tried to put up a façade and it came across as arrogant,’ Johns said.
‘But at Newcastle I find him really good. Respectful, loves his footy. From my experience, I could not knock him.’
Hastings met Smith while he was playing in England and paid tribute to her and her family for helping him grow as a person when he left to come back Down Under in late 2021.
‘My partner Amelia has been incredible, and her family has taken me in,’ he told the Manchester Evening News.
‘They’ve helped me, and the gratitude I have for help like that is something I maybe didn’t possess before.
‘I’m better equipped to handle anything thrown my way on and off the field now.
‘I’m a totally different player, a totally different person… a totally different everything.’
