You cannot help but notice Todd Carney as he strolls into the SFS café for breakfast with a few of his team mates from his new club at the Sydney Roosters. Even if you didn’t know who he was, he would capture your attention.
It is not his multi-coloured tattoos that cover most of his visible body, or the Roosters training gear that display that he is an NRL footballer.
It is something else that makes you stop and look up.
This man has a god given gift. He has an aura about him that only very good players have. It is like there is a halo over his head.
I thought the same when a shy teenage kid walked past me in a Melbourne pub in 2004. I asked who he was and was told his is name was Greg Inglis.
Todd Carney has a long way to go before he could expect Inglis to buy him breaky, but there can be no mistake that 2010 will be his year to really get his life back on track and be discussed as a future rep player.
While I was waiting to order my flat white and Turkish raisin toast, the former Canberra young gun was ahead taking control like he does on a football field.
He told his team mates to sit down and he will “fix everything up”.
As he parted with $17.95, he managed to find the time to say hello to anyone that came near him. He gave the impression that he is introverted but genuinely enjoyed talking to fans, displaying his alter boy manners.
Roosters chairman Nick Politis is not noted for putting good money after bad, and after sacking his coach Ricky Stuart and then his replacement Chris Anderson, he decided enough was enough – the house had to be re-built.
He went after, and got, the man regarded as having the best eye for NRL talent, Peter O’Sullivan, who moved up from his Melbourne office after his team, the Storm, had just won the 2008 Grand Final.
The legacy of Peter’s work was still evident when the Storm repeated with another Grand Final in 2009, and for good measure, his “babies” won the National Youth competition.
So as we approach the 2010 season, the Roosters have yet another new coach as club legend Brad Fittler made way for the controversial Brian Smith, who came highly recommended.
Nick Politis could have been excused, as he sat down for a cuppa with his new coach Smith and long time right hand man Phil Gould, if had spruked:”I have done my bit, now its up to you”.
I wonder if they all know that everything hangs on that young man with the tatts and a halo over his head.
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