SEPTEMBER 2002
The final act in one of the most dramatic season in the history of Canterbury-Bankstown was played out at the Sydney Showgrounds when the disgraced club beat minor premiership hopefuls, Brisbane 25-18, with winger, Hazem El Masri scoring two tries and kicking four goals from as many shots.
On fulltime, thousands of Canterbury fans swarmed onto the field to embrace their heroes, who undoubtedly would have won the minor premiership except for a salary cap scandal, which saw the club stripped of 37 competition points.
Halfback, Brent Sherwin’s kicking game had the Broncos on the back foot, with the Bulldogs leading 24-6 at halftime. The Broncos fought back to get within six points with 10 minutes left, but a Sherwin field goal put the result beyond doubt.
Earlier in the week Canterbury had appealed to the NRL to have their penalties reduced, but to no avail. New Bulldogs’ chairman, former Test hooker, George Peponis said the penalty would cost the club $1.5m in sponsorship and prizemoney.
‘The Croc Hunter’, Steve Irwin had made an appearance at the Broncos’ final training run at Red Hill, the day before the Bulldogs match. With a film crew in tow, Irwin challenged Broncos’ skipper, Gorden Tallis to run at him. A former Caloundra rugby league player, Irwin executed a copybook low tackle on Tallis, who probably ran at three quarter pace.
Next it was Shane Webcke, who came off the back fence, as they say in today’s parlance, sending Irwin flying through the air.
“Crikey”, Irwin said, as he regained his feet. It was ‘gold’ for the film crew and local television stations.
The New Zealand Warriors finished minor premiers on percentages after their 28-12 win over Wests Tigers in Auckland. Newcastle also finished on 38 points, despite a 40-22 loss to St George Illawarra at the Sydney Football Stadium.
I covered the Broncos v Bulldogs game on what was my 50th birthday. After the match I had a beer with the Sydney Morning Herald’s Brad Walter at the Aurora Hotel, Surry Hills. The following day I covered the Roosters’ 30-18 win over Cronulla at Shark Park, with fullback, Brett Mullins scoring three tries for the Chooks, in front of a crowd of 20,380.
I was lucky to make it to the media box, as I had nearly been clocked by a beer bottle, thrown from a passing car, as I walked outside the ground.
After the match I talked all things media with Fairfax journo, Greg Prichard at the Erskineville Pub.
On Sunday I covered the previously mentioned Newcastle v Dragons match, staying in Sydney for the Captains’ press conference at Aussie Stadium on the Monday and then covering the Dally M Awards at City Hall that night, with Newcastle’s Andrew Johns winning his Third Dally M Player of the Year.
Before the Dallys I had drinks at the Evening Star pub with fellow News Limited hacks, Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield, Paul Kent, Dean ‘Bulldog’ Ritchie, Steve Fenech and Geoff ‘Grocer’ Greenwood. Kent was lucky to make it to the Dallys alive, as he was almost run down by a motorist, as he strode out for his cab, after finishing his beer.
At the Dally’s, I sat a media table alongside the likes of Roy Masters, John Gibbs, Brent Read, Stu Honeysett and Paul Ritchie. Roy and I had a long chat, a lot of it related to a mutual close friend, former St George and Queensland State of Origin hooker, John Dowling.
The following day it was back to Brisbane to present The Courier-Mail Best and Fairest Award at another black-tie function. The winner was Brisbane Easts’ halfback, Scott Thorburn, a product of the Wingham Tigers, the club I played with in 1975.
Now that I am 70, I look back fondly at most of that time on the road as a rugby league writer, but I don’t miss the pressures of filing for deadline; catching flights to and from Sydney; Townsville etc and having to come up with a daily scoop or two. It was an adrenalin rush, and while the thrill of a scoop never subsided, I was content to take a redundancy soon after I hit 60. The media landscape was changing in ways I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. But that’s another story.
About Author
In 2000, I was in California being introduced to a Brazilian who asked me about his hero the croc hunter. I had to say, “never heard of him”. That soon changed.
Who would tackle Shane Webcke when he only knows one way to run HARD.!