He’s our GM of Football, one of our favourite Old Boys and unarguably the best hooker to ever pull on the red and blue.
With so many incredible moments to choose from, it was really difficult to pull out our top five moments from Danny Buderus’ great career for the nib Newcastle Knights.
Winning the Dally M Medal in 2004
Still a relatively young hooker, Buderus took out rugby league’s greatest honour in a season where his side struggled for consistency.
Buderus held off the heavily favoured Brett Finch to take the award by just two votes in a season where Buderus was forced to step up in the absence of the injured Andrew Johns.
Saying goodbye…twice
It’s not often you get two heartfelt farewells, some five years apart from each other.
However, Buderus got just that after he opted to leave the Club for the English Super League in 2008 after a falling out with Brian Smith.
A torn bicep appeared to have denied Buderus his farewell, however an emotional lap of honour in front of a packed McDonald Jones Stadium on Old Boys Day.
Five years, a stint in England and an SOS from Wayne Bennett later, Buderus had his second big farewell at home, knocking over the final penalty goal in a 54-6 win over Parramatta.
Even Parramatta fans were on their feet for his lap of honour post-match.
Origin 3-peat as skipper
It had been over decade since any side did a State of Origin ‘3-peat’, however, under Buderus’ leadership, NSW did just that.
Buderus led the Blues to three dominant series wins in a row, with Buderus featuring in every game, playing six as captain.
Let’s not talk about what happened in the next decade.
Solo special for his country
Buderus managed 24 caps for his country, making his debut in 2001 before a young talent named Cameron Smith snuck in and took the spot.
However, none were quite as special as one of his final green and gold appearances in 2006, where Buderus showed his textbook electricity out of dummy-half to score one of the best tries of his career against the Kiwis.
Getting away from the ruck with nothing on, Buderus straightened and exploded through a hole to race over untouched and put the cherry on top of a 50-12 win for Kangaroos.
Coaching glory v Melbourne 2015
He wasn’t on the field this particular night, but Buderus’ fingerprints were all over this one.
Buderus had just taken the reins from Rick Stone, who moved on from his Head Coaching role midway through the 2015 season.
‘Bedsy’ was tasked with taking the struggling Knights down to AAMI Park in Melbourne to take on the high-flying Storm. A big ask for a rookie interim Coach.
However, a massive performance from the Knights resulted in a 20-6 win, stunning Melbourne and the rest of the competition.
An appropriate result considering the footballing genius of the man at the helm.
