But more than a decade spent in the brutal position of prop had an impact on the former Blue, who was forced into early retirement from the NRL last year after succumbing to a string of injuries.

"Although I was injured most of last year, that was officially my last playing year and now I've moved into a coaching role at Windsor," Kite said.

Taking on the head coaching role with Penrith's feeder club, the Windsor Wolves, keeps Kite busy and the 34-year-old enjoys the quieter feel of the area, pointing out the parallels between Windsor and his home town.

"Windsor reminds me of home a little bit, like a little country town," Kite said.

"It's like how Queanbeyan is just outside of Canberra, and Penrith is just outside of Sydney, and Windsor is just outside of Penrith, it's a little bit more like home with the semi-rural feel, it's nice out here."

Debuting for St. George Illawarra in 2002, Kite went on to play the majority of his football with the Manly Sea Eagles, winning the flag in 2008 and bagging the Clive Churchill medal in the process, before spending his remaining two years in the NRL with the Penrith Panthers.

He also represented New South Wales on 10 occasions, played 14 tests for Australia, and six for Tonga - including captaining the side during the 2013 World Cup.

Kite's thoughts never stray too far from home and he cites Queanbeyan's strong sporting culture in keeping him occupied, active, and ultimately impacting on his development as a professional athlete.

"There are so many negative things you can get into as a teenager as your identity is forming," he said.

"But sport was definitely healthy and it's always been the way of life back home so I have good memories from Little Athletics, boxing and from all the different things we did back in Queanbeyan."

A career that began in Queanbeyan and was helped along by the junior Raiders outfit, culminated in an epic, 13-year, 313-game stay in the nation's top tier competition.

While the 2008 premiership with Manly was a highlight, Kite still recalls his time with the Blues fondly.

"I have really good memories with the Blues and we were a pretty good team," Kite said.

"All the teams that come out of Queanbeyan are pretty strong.

"We often won grand finals and we got to come up here to Sydney and play the rest of the teams that had won from around the state and that was always a good time.

"Playing at the Sydney football stadium I remember these young blokes from Queanbeyan were taking bits of grass home, we were just stoked to be out there.

"Obviously I ended up playing a lot of football on that ground, so those are always nice memories to look back on."