How is life treating you Terry?
Life is treating me pretty good, mate. I’m 64 years old and working for the Bulldogs still. I’ve been at the club for 40 years and seen a lot of people come and go in that time. It’s just great to still be involved in a club I really care about.
It’s an exciting time to be a Bulldogs fan, isn’t it?
100% it is mate. We’ve been on this journey probably since Gus joined us four or five years ago and at the moment, we’re heading in the right direction.
Our NRL side hasn’t lost a game yet. We’ll have to drop one at some stage and I think the interesting thing will be to track how the side bounces back after that first loss. Hopefully we don’t have to worry about that for a while.
How are the junior pathways looking at the Dogs?
We’ve got some really good kids pushing through our system. We’ve got a nephew, Taj Matthews, playing in our Matty’s Cup side and we’ve got Steve Reardon’s son and Jason Smith’s son here at the club as well, so there are some names older fans will recognise on some of our team lists.
Right through our junior footy, everything is going really well and that’s where it all starts for us. We need to be strong in the juniors, then build those players into first graders.
What were you like as a young player pushing through at Canterbury and then Wests?
I played in the Jersey Flegg grand final in 1979 and Kenny Gentle was our coach at Canterbury. It was the first grand final I ever won actually, but then Kenny went over to Wests the following year to coach the U23s and Kenny took me with him.
I was a mad Western Suburbs fan growing up and with Tommy Raudonikis and John Donnelly there, it was a great opportunity to play some footy and make a bit of money. But after a few years, I realised I wanted to try and win a comp and I had to be realistic that it probably wasn’t going to happen at Wests at the time.
I ended up on a phone call with Peter Moore and I decided to go back to Canterbury after that.
What was the difference between the two clubs at that stage?
There wasn’t much difference but I definitely noticed the ability of the players that were suddenly around me at Canterbury because prior to that, we’d lost a lot of good players at Western Suburbs to different clubs.
Canterbury were able to keep their best players and attract a few more and that’s why we went on to have success.
Is it true your Dally M win in 1983 was worth more than your entire contract that year?
Yeah that’s true. I think I was on about five grand in those days then it was $300 a win and $100 a loss. So in my first year we had a really good season and made the semis and I think I made about $7500, then the next year I won the Dally M but we finished last and I made less than I did the year before.
It wasn’t all about money, and that’s what I loved about Western Suburbs, they were always the underdogs. Eventually though, I had to look after myself and my family and that’s when I moved back to Canterbury.
What was Warren Ryan like as a coach?
Wokka, Wokka, Wokka. That’s how I always used to say hi to him in those early days. It’d always put a little smile on his face and he’d call me a smart-arse and kick be up the backside, but that’s how things were back then. He was a fantastic coach though.
You went on to play with New South Wales and Australia for most of the 80s and ended up playing every match of the 1986 Australian tour. How was the body after that?
I was actually okay after the tour but it made the following year really difficult. When I got home, I felt fine and I remember heading up the coast after we got back and still running around the streets non stop to try and stay as fit as possible and prepare for the following year.
But by the time the 1987 season came around, I was feeling ordinary.
And looking back on it, we played in grand finals in 84, 85 and 86, then come 87 we didn’t even make the finals. We had Andrew Farrer coming off that tour, Chris Mortimer, Paul Langmack and myself who were all just burnt out.
You played in a lot of good teams over the years. Is there one that stands out for you?
It’s hard to pick between some of those grand final teams. When we got to the 94 grand final, we got smashed by Canberra by 30 points so we knew what to expect the following year in 95.
I was captain by then, which changed things quite a bit. I went from being one of the larrikins to suddenly having to lead by example. But I was still on the drink with them all the whole time, so I’m not sure what they thought of me, but that was just me and I had to keep joking around and enjoying myself.
If I had to pick one side, I’d have to pick the 1995 grand final team. They were a fantastic bunch of footballers and people.
Who is the most underrated player you played with or against?
If you look at that 1995 grand final team, there were guys like Jason Hetherington, Simon Gillies and Jimmy Dymock who were all really young but they stood up to the challenge.
We also had Darren Britt come over in 93 from Western Suburbs in his first few years down from the bush from Orange and he was another great player.
They all made a big impact in that 1995 premiership and I don’t think that gets talked about enough.
You’ve experienced plenty of good times at Canterbury over the years, what can we expect in the coming months if the Dogs keep winning?
In my diary, I’ve gone through every game and marked out the games I think we can win and the ones we might lose and I’ve got us on 36 points at the end of the year, which would mean a top four finish.
That’s just my opinion on each game, but I also didn’t have us beating Cronulla down there a few weeks back, so I’ve got a game in hand at this stage.
But the club is on a really good path and I’m looking forward to watching them continue that in the months and years ahead.
