Ghosts of Aussie past to help Kangaroos

It is getting harder and harder in this modern world to link the present and the past. It might even be harder to link the 2013 rugby league player with any remnants of the men that came before them.

No matter what the detractors say, wearing the green and gold of the Australian Kangaroos is one of the greatest achievements any NRL player can obtain.

Some will tell you the jersey is worthless and the international game is a sham.

Those people can’t hear the heartbeat of the game. Sometimes it has been faint and sometimes it hasn’t been there at all. But it always comes back.

This heart doesn’t know how to stop.

State of Origin, “franchises” and skyrocketing incomes continue to erode the pureness of green and gold representation. So yes, granted over the years the prestige of the Australian rugby league jumper has diminished.

But it hasn’t faded completely.

There will be quiet moments throughout their time in England, the birthplace of the game they play, where they’ll find themselves remembering just how lucky they are.

The chill that runs down their back when they put on the most famous strip in rugby league at the Millennium Stadium on October 26 might just be nerves.

Or it could be something else.

It could be the fleeting ghost of rugby legend Dally Messenger signing a contract to be the first, and most famous, convert.

A man who played an integral part in growing the new game of rugby league.

When these 2013 Kangaroos sit in the bowels of Millennium at Cardiff hours before yet another showdown with the old enemy, they will look down at the jersey they hold in their hands and feel the hair on the back of their necks stand up.

Maybe it’s just nerves.

Or is it the whispering of the most famous bowler hat in Australian sport, dancing with the wind through the dark streets of Ilkley Moor?

When they lock arms for a team huddle in the middle of the training field, they will feel the warm embrace of their mates. Could it be that the bond feels stronger because the squad’s thorough history is with them?

Perhaps Max Krilich, Wally Lewis and the 1982 ‘Invincibles’?

Brad Fittler, Andrew Johns and the undefeated World Champions of 2000?

Time is fast running out for these Kangaroos and soon they will take their place in history with all that have come before them. This is their final chance to not only be remembered as great players, but world champions.

”I’m realistic,” Australian clydesdale Paul Gallen said on Sunday.

”I know there won’t be another World Cup for me.

”I’m looking forward to it. I remember talking to my dad after the last World Cup – he goes, ‘You’ll win the next one’, and I said, ‘As if I’m going to be there for the next one’.

“Time goes so fast. I’m here now. I’m really looking forward to it. I just want to do my best and hopefully bring the cup back home.”

All we have are fleeting moments and memories.

It’s time these Kangaroos made their own.