Newcastle's new Kiwi star MAX HICKS on feeding his pet eel butter chicken, growing up on AFL and hockey, waterskiing, working on a building site with Exeter's Ethan Roots and being compared to LeBron James - is an England call next?

Let’s start with Max Hicks' childhood. He was born and raised in New Zealand. His father, James, is Maori, and his mother, Liane, comes from Cornwall. ‘I grew up in a little town called Coatesville, west of Auckland,’ explains the 27-year-old, his long limbs sprawled across a sofa at Kingston Park. ‘I had a pet eel called Scarface. We had this big creek that ran through the bottom of our property. We had agricultural day at primary school, where people would bring in sheep, calves, bunny rabbits. His sporting journey has been equally unconventional.