BRISBANE butcher Chard Smith is a dyed-in-the-wool Newcastle Knights and Andrew Johns fan who wears his heart on his sleeve in indelible ink.
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Mr Smith, 32, took advantage of his first meeting with the retired former Newcastle, NSW and Australian captain at a Brisbane book store last November and asked Johns to sign the Knights tattoo already on his arm.
"Then I went and got my mate Mike O'Sullivan to tattoo his signature," Mr Smith said.
"He was signing copies of his autobiography [The Two Of Me] and I asked if he'd sign the Knights tattoo I'd got done at the start of last year. He said, 'Yeah, no worries', but told me I should probably read his book and take some of his advice."
Mr Smith is holidaying in Muswellbrook to visit his girlfriend Natasha's parents.
He bought up big at the Knights Kingdom store at EnergyAustralia Stadium last Friday and hopes to stock up on more gear and catch a training session today before returning home.
Mr Smith wants to add the tattooed signatures of former and current Knights captains Paul Harragon and Danny Buderus to his body of work.
"People think I'm a bit crazy when they see it but they know how much I appreciate Joey and what he's done for football so they just think I'm a mad supporter," he said.
"I think Joey might have thought I was a stalker but he was great."
Mr Smith's passion for the Knights kick-started the conversation that led to his relationship with Natasha.
"She walked into the shop six months ago and saw the Knights tattoo and it went from there, but she's a mad NSW fan and I'm a passionate Queensland supporter so it will be interesting at State of Origin time" he said.
Mr Smith switched allegiance to the Knights from the Raiders in 1997 and was rewarded at season's end when Newcastle won the ARL grand final.
