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If Jamal Idris wanted a sign that his decision to leave Canterbury for the Gold Coast was the right one he didn’t have to wait long.
One fine day he was walking along a street in Regents Park when a Bulldogs fan came screeching to a halt beside him, hopped out of the car and threatened to assault him.
Idris wasn’t too concerned about his safety or that of “the missus” because there was only going to be one outcome if the irked supporter had decided to engage the dreadlocked centre.
Giant Jamal may be a Bulldog traitor but he’s also a decent chap, so his attacker survived.
Rather than being critical of the fan’s near-lunatic passion for his football club, Idris was philosophical and quick to point out that such behaviour isn’t unique to western Sydney: ”There’s good and bad about everything. Even up here [on the Gold Coast], there’s obviously going to be some bad as well, but that’s just life.”
However the incident did give the big man an opportunity to state his case for wanting to play near… water: –
”It’s good to be back near the ocean, it reminds me of home where you walk five minutes north to the water and three minutes east you’re in the water and then west you’ve got the lake as well, it’s the best in the world.”
Players rarely say publicly that they’d prefer to be playing somewhere else.
It’s only after they have left to go to another club that their preferred option becomes apparent. They praise their new club and by implication denigrate the former one: ”It’s been really good, everyone’s unique, there’s blokes like me here at the Gold Coast as well, no one judges anyone for being weird here, everyone just accepts each other”, commented Idris.
The last thing a struggling Penrith needed to hear from Timana Tahu – a high maintenance player the Panthers gave an opportunity to when no other club was prepared to do so – was that he was leaving for Newcastle.
And then his explanation for doing so ( “I probably wouldn’t be here [at the Knights] if it wasn’t for Wayne Bennett, he gave me the opportunity, he rang me up and it was words from heaven”) made poor Matthew Elliot look like Satan, and Penrith like purgatory.
Another phone call was made this year that highlights the significance of the coach in a player’s decision over what club to choose.
After being shown the ever-revolving door at the Roosters, prop Jason Ryles said: “I’ll be totally honest. My manager tossed up to go to several other clubs and I had no interest in doing it….and then four hours later my manager rang back and said Craig Bellamy was going to call me”.
He signed with the Storm immediately.
Naturally a player wants to play under a great coach who can bring the best out of him – and help him win a premiership.
One-city teams like the Storm and the Broncos do have one significant advantage over their numerous Sydney counterparts in attracting players: money.
The Storm’s News Limited funding and the Bronco’s monopoly of Brisbane sponsorship allow the clubs to invest in modern facilities and the latest coaching techniques. While their squads sit in hyperbaric chambers and high-altitude rec rooms, the teams reliant on toiling leagues clubs have their players dragging truck tyres around pot-holed paddocks.
The most common reason given by players for leaving, or staying at, a club is wanting to feel they’re “at home”. As Sydney is the home of rugby league that is where most players stay or return to.
The southern outpost of Melbourne has lost a few decent players suffering from homesickness but more and more of its squad are calling the city home. Future superstar Jessie Bromwich has just re signed, citing Bellamy (of course) and his young family as the factors in his decision.
Steve Turner was also very happy to live in Melbourne before he was sacrificed to maintain the illusion that his club was complying with the salary cap.
In what is a significant event for the Storm, and the NRL, young centre Mahe Fonua – the first born-and-bred Melbournian – has been added to the senior squad.
Whenever a player volunteers to leave your club, for whatever reason, it’s hard not to take it personally. Just as it’s flattering to hear an opposition player say he respects and envies your club.
The gentleman who decided to enact a drive-by on Jamal Idris obviously took it too personally – performed in true south-west Sydney style: from the seat of a 6 litre SS Commodore.
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