A New Zealand Rugby World Cup victory on Sunday would be a wonderful reward for the sacrifices made by veteran All Black forward Brad Thorn, according to his former National Rugby League club coach Wayne Bennett.
Like Bennett’s other all-time favourite players, Darren Lockyer and Allan Langer, Thorn is regarded by those who played with him as a winner.
“Brad brings a winning attitude with him with everything he does, he’s got winner all over him,” Bennett told AAP before Thorn’s date with destiny on Sunday.
It would be hard to find a player more humble than Lockyer, but Bennett agrees Thorn would go close to Brisbane’s champion five-eighth who left for the UK on Friday on his last tour with Australia.
“Those guys all came through an era at the Broncos where humility was part of the club’s DNA.”
Thorn has already won NRL premierships, State of Origin series and Test matches in rugby league – and Super Rugby and Tri Nations titles in rugby union.
Jason Robinson was a star of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph and earned 19 rugby league caps, but Thorn would surely eclipse the dazzling winger’s feats with victory over France at Eden Park.
Thorn was just 18 when he was rookie of the year in Bennett’s 1994 Broncos side.
Together they won four premierships in 1997 (Super League), 1998, 2000 and 2006 before he went back to chasing his dream of playing for the All Blacks.
Thorn played 130 games under Bennett between 1994-2000 and walked away from a huge contract to play Super Rugby for the Canterbury Crusaders.
After playing for New Zealand in the 2003 Rugby World Cup he was re-united with Bennett and the Broncos, playing another 70 games and sharing in his fourth premiership.
He also played in Bennett’s Queensland side which won the 1998 State of Origin series.
“Brad took a huge pay cut when he made the decision to go to New Zealand,” Bennett told AAP on the eve of Thorn’s milestone game.
“I’ll be elated for him if New Zealand win, he deserves it.
“He does the hard yards, the tough stuff that just has to be done and for a team to be successful they need men who want to do that and then the stars, the flashy players get on the back of it.
“Brad’s never been a flashy player, but by god he’s allowed the flashy players to be better than even they thought they could be at times because of the work he did up front for them.”
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
There’s been a trope going round in the NRL and you’d have had to have had your head in the sand not to notice…
Jason Demetriou is no longer South Sydney coach but while he made a dignified exit there are plenty of other people at the club…
Jason Demetriou has been punted as South Sydney coach after the board eventually decided his time was up. The Rabbitohs board met for more…
Daly Cherry-Evans has avoided being suspended for the first time in his 14-year career, rolling the dice to dodge a three-match ban after having…
All the team list information for Round 9.
Parramatta have suffered another body blow with the news that Clint Gutherson is to miss over a month of footy after having minor surgery…
