GRANT, YOU’VE BEEN WORKING IN THE FINACIAL SECTOR SINCE FINISHING IN THE NRL – CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE UP TO THESE DAYS?
It’s been a rewarding transition into this space for me and my family and it largely came around by chance – my junior rugby league coach was a commercial insurance broker. We moved home to Mackay after the Cowboys stint; my wife had a job opportunity, so we moved back around our family support. [My former coach] called me literally when I landed and asked me if I needed a job … my plan was to have a couple of months off and try and find something to progress with from a career perspective. But I was lucky enough to get that call and I started with AON in a national insurance broking role the week after. I didn’t have much time to think about it – and here I am 15 years later, leading the Howden business in Queensland living in Brisbane with my family.
YOU HAD PLENTY OF LOWER-GRADE SUCCESS WITH THE ROOSTERS BUT LEFT FOR THE WARRIORS BEFORE PLAYING FIRST GRADE – WAS THERE AN OFFER TO STAY?
We had Ivan (Cleary) as coach the first year I was there in 2003, then we won the [Premier League] in 2004. We got beaten by Parramatta in the 2005 [Premier League] grand final [under Shane Flanagan] and there was the opportunity to stay at the Roosters. But Ivan reached out to come to the Warriors – he and I forged a really strong relationship through those days at the Roosters – and it was too good an offer to refuse. I had still had some other players that were ahead of me if I stayed at the Roosters: Jamie Soward and I were the halves for that 2005 reserve grade team, so it was essentially out of him and I to play first grade. I just felt that under Ivan’s coaching I played my best footy, so that was the reason why I moved to New Zealand.
AFTER STARTING ON THE BENCH FOR THE WARRIORS IN 2006, YOU FORGED A PERMANENT SPOT AT HALFBACK – ESSENTIALLY FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF STACEY JONES, WHO HAD BEEN THE CLUB’S NO.7 SINCE 1995. DID YOU FEEL ANY PRESSURE TO LIVE UP TO WHAT THAT JERSEY HAD EMBODIED?
Not really, I was just grateful that I had the opportunity to play. I wasn’t expecting to be in the starting team as the first-choice halfback so it didn’t really come into my mind about following Stacey – even though I knew the size of his legacy and what he’d done for New Zealand rugby league – in terms of pressure. It felt great to play at that level and I had a lot of great support from the rest of the crew at that point.
MICHAEL WITT ARRIVED IN 2007 AND YOU TWO FORMED ONE OF THE LESS-HERALDED HALVES PAIRINGS TO STEER A TEAM TO THE TOP FOUR – WHAT WAS THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS TOGETHER?
We just hit it off. We’re still really close to this day and I run into ‘Witty’ a fair bit and stay in contact. We got along so well and we spent a lot of time with each other. We had different styles but thought about the game the same way, and the style of football that the Warriors played was very focused on sharing the ball around – it wasn’t completely up to us to create all the opportunities. There was still lots of good players that could do that: [Nathan Fien] was at dummy-half with George Gatis off the bench, and Wade McKinnon at the back, Lance Hohaia. They supported us and what we were doing for the team.
AFTER FEATURING IN THE WARRIORS’ MEMORABLE RUN TO THE 2008 PRELIM, YOU JOINED THE COWBOYS – WHAT WAS BEHIND THE MOVE HOME?
Ivan had sat me down – it was a good conversation – and said I think it’s time to explore other opportunities. He appreciated my contribution for the club and I had a deal in place, but he was being proactive and said it might be in my best interests. I appreciated his honesty. I actually thought I might be going back to the Roosters – my dad was there in a football manager capacity, that wasn’t the main driver, but there was a relationship there and they needed a halves partner for Mitchell Pearce. But we went over to Micheal Luck’s wedding in Townsville and that was a catalyst to start to talking to the Cowboys. It was always my dream to play for them and it ended up that that was the best opportunity for me. My wife just had our first daughter, Lola, so we couldn’t fly for that first chunk of preseason. Ivan kindly let me train as a signed Cowboys player with the Warriors to allow me to get myself fit. The day I started at the Cowboys was the day that everybody found out about (the drowning death of Warriors player) Sonny Fai, which was really sad.
YOU DIDN’T HAVE THE SAME LEVEL OF CONSISTENT FIRST GRADE FOOTBALL AT THE COWBOYS AND THE TEAM WAS STRUGGLING, BUT LIVING OUT THAT BOYHOOD DREAM MUST HAVE BEEN A HIGHLIGHT?
When I was young I drew the Cowboys jersey and my school hat was number 7 on the back – at that time it was a long, long way off dream. So to make my debut for my home region was a representation of a lot of sacrifice, and a lot of sacrifice from other people as well as my family. It was a very special moment. I got to play with Aaron Payne and Matty Bowen, they’re a year older than me … and we sort of grew up together in the junior development system of the Cowboys. I grew up playing against ‘JT’ (Johnathan Thurston) in all the rep teams because we’re the same age. It was pretty cool to throw the Cowboys jersey on with those guys.
AFTER FINISHING IN THE NRL AT JUST 27, PLAYING QUEENSLAND CUP AND CLUB FOOTY BACK HOME IN MACKAY MUST HAVE BEEN A SATISFYING FULL-CIRCLE POSTSCRIPT TO YOUR CAREER?
It was a great experience. I got to play for the Cutters when I was playing for the Cowboys and play with my younger brother (Josh). I got to captain the club, that was very special to me, and actually positioned the group for a grand final win in 2013 playing with young guys like Jason Taumalolo and Michael Morgan, helping them through their careers as well. I went back and played for my junior club (Souths Mackay Sharks) and we won competitions, I got a couple of player of the year awards, so that was fun as well.
YOU REPRESENTED ITALY INTERMITTENTLY THROUGH YOU CAREER – YOU MUST HAVE BEEN CLOSE TO WORLD CUP SELECTION IN 2013?
I was part of the 2013 World Cup qualification, but my son was born that year and I had a real job at the same time, so I couldn’t just nick off over to Italy for eight weeks. That’s the only reason why I didn’t go on that tour. I was very grateful to be given that opportunity to represent Italy – it meant probably more to my family, my grandparents and some of my family back in Italy. Now my grandparents have died, and I know how proud they were, and what they did to come over to Australia to find a better life, it probably means more to me now than it did then.
DATE OF BIRTH
3 September, 1983
CURRENT AGE
42
BIRTHPLACE
Mackay, Queensland
POSITION
Halfback, five-eighth
PLAYING HISTORY
2006-08: Warriors
2009-10: North Queensland
JUNIOR CLUB
Souths Mackay Sharks
REP FOOTBALL
2003-12: Italy
TOTAL NRL MATCHES
94
TRIES | POINTS
16 | 64
