Instead of "build it and they will come" it was a case of "they came and they built it", courtesy of the Hogs For Homeless charity.

Fittler and fellow league legends Danny Buderus, Mark O'Meley, Steve Menzies, Mark Hughes and Ian Schubert rolled up their sleeves and unrolled hundreds of metres of turf to transform the field.

"When we heard what was happening we were absolutely astonished," school principal Darren Cox said.

"Someone from the community contacted Hogs for Homeless and it's just gone from there.

"To have four or five of the greatest players of all time roll up and create a new rugby league field out of nothing is incredible.

"They all worked incredibly hard, it wasn't just a case of them showing up."

Working side by side with league legends there were no shortage of students on hand to help with unloading and rolling out the turf.

"Everyone was having a ball, we got so much work done it was incredible," Cox said. "We thought it would probably take most of the day, but within three hours we had a new field."

Cox said the new ground would be utilised by the entire Cessnock community.

"It opens up the opportunity for Cessnock to host a lot more events with visiting sporting teams and country championships and regional gala days," he said.

"We've got the accommodation and now the sporting facilities to host bigger events."

Fittler said it was great to be able to help the school and Cessnock community.

"One of the guys who actually rides with us, his son goes to the school," Fittler said.

"Darren the principal is a mad rugby league fan, the only problem is that he is a Queenslander.

"It's a fantastic school, they've done a great job here. It's grown from about 200 students to up around 1500.

"They've got a few ovals now and hopefully this can be the centre of any major sporting event including rugby league."