BEN, YOU’VE BEEN HEAVILY INVOLVED IN COACHING SINCE HANGING UP THE BOOTS – TELL US ABOUT YOUR CURRENT ROLES.
I’m involved with the Brisbane Tigers in the Hostplus Cup – I’ve got a dual role as senior head of football at the Carina Tigers in the local Brisbane A-grade competition as well as assistant coach for the Hostplus Cup team. I’ve recently been appointed Australian Universities’ head coach for the next two years, which is exciting. We’ve got a tour to Fiji coming up in September-October, we’ve got three games over there. I’m also helping with the coaching of my son’s team at West Arana [Hills] Panthers.
WAS IT COACHING THAT BROUGHT YOU UP TO BRISBANE?
I moved up here at the end of 2018 as assistant coach for the Broncos when Anthony Seibold came in for Wayne Bennett. Unfortunately, I got made redundant during 2020 … but since then I’ve had a stint as head of football and head coach at Ipswich Jets, a short stint with PNG Hunters when they were based on the Gold Coast, and Central Queensland Capras for half a season.
ONE OF YOUR PREVIOUS ROLES WAS AS HEAD COACH OF THE NSW WOMEN’S TEAM, INCLUDING SOME HISTORIC WINS AND THE FIRST GAME UNDER THE ORIGIN BANNER IN 2018?
When I took over in 2016, it wasn’t under the Origin banner but we still selected players that would have come under Origin eligibility. It was just on the precipice of going professional with the NRLW. Look, we had to have some success in NSW – in 19 years of the women’s interstate challenge NSW had never won. The game was growing in NSW, we had the Harvey Norman Premiership – we just needed to get that success, which is what we did for those three years. That helped underpin the NRLW because that’s where a lot of the players were based initially. The team from 2016 through to 2018 was virtually the same group of players – and a lot of them became superstars in the NRLW: Kezie Apps, Isabelle Kelly, Jessica Sergis, Allana Ferguson, Ruan Sims. They’ve all left a great legacy in the NSW jersey and really set the women’s game up for the professionalism to come.
FROM BATEMANS BAY TO THE RAIDERS – AT AN AGE WHEN YOU MAY HAVE THOUGHT NRL FOOTY HAD PASSED YOU BY. HOW DID THAT UNFOLD?
I moved up to Canberra and played in the local competition at Canberra at the age of 23, 24. Moving into a stronger competition directly under the eyes of the Raiders really helped, playing against a lot of guys that had previously played for the Raiders. There’s been other players [break into the NRL] a bit older, but they’ve always been in systems and just had to bide their time. I’d never been in an NRL system. I got picked up from a Raiders open trial, then pushed my way into the NRL side within eight months. So it was a pretty rapid rise. It all just came off the back of wanting to work really, really hard. The closer I got to the NRL, getting through that open trial and then being in the reserve grade squad, knowing that I was only one step away, it really inspired me to keep working harder.
A WIN ON NRL DEBUT IN 2003 BUT ALSO A STRIKING SUSPENSION…AND ANOTHER BAN AFTER YOUR SECOND GAME?
I lived by the sword and died by the sword early in my career – I think I was the only player in NRL history to be suspended in his first and second match. [The first one] was just a little forearm across the face of Mark Riddell. There was nothing in it. And then the second one was a glancing high shot on Adrian Morley of all people. He was giving out high shots left, right and centre in his career – I thought in my second game, I might as well give him one. So I had to curtail that pretty quickly.
YOU FINALLY CEMENTED A REGULAR SPOT IN 2005 BEFORE HEADING TO THE STORM – DID THEY COME AFTER YOU OR WERE YOU LOOKING FOR AN OPPORTUNITY?
A little bit of both. Craig Bellamy rang me in 2003, before I’d made my NRL debut and pursued me. That was his first year as head coach and I didn’t really know much about who he was. I’d come in fresh, wet between the ears. I said no to him because I wanted to stay and be thankful to the Raiders for giving me an opportunity. I wanted to reward them with a three-year contract, be faithful to them and learn off guys like Ruben Wiki and Simon Woolford. I think that really resonated with Craig because he’d played there with the Raiders. I could’ve stayed at Canberra but I had an opportunity to look elsewhere – I was set to sign with the Cowboys and turned the phone on at Brisbane Airport when I was returning home from a flight to Townsville. Michael Maguire rang me and said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m just about to sign with the Cowboys’. He said, ‘No, you’re not. You’re going to come down to Melbourne Storm. We’ll show you around and you’ll be signing with us’.
A GRAND FINAL LOSS IN 2006, THEN A PREMIERSHIP AND REP JERSEYS THE FOLLOW SEASON – FAIR TO SAY THE MOVE TO MELBOURNE PAID OFF?
I came to Melbourne with injuries and suspension, so I had to play about five or six NSW Cup games before I could force my way into the team. Once I got my debut, the performance I put in, Craig said, ‘Mate, you keep on playing like that and you’ll never be out of the team’. Essentially I never was after that. I rolled into 2007, had another strong season and I was fortunate enough to pull on a Country Origin jersey and then win a grand final.
ON THE BACK OF THAT BREAKOUT SEASON, YOU JOINED NEWCASTLE AND GOT AN ORIGIN CALL-UP – AN AMAZING RISE WHEN FIVE YEARS EARLIER YOU HADN’T PLAYED NRL AT 24…
It’s a story I relay to young kids – always keep working hard. I was a debutant for NSW when I was 29. A lot of guys were coming close to the end of their career and I was still on the up. I was pretty close to playing Origin in 2007, Craig Bellamy told me he fielded a few phone calls for game three and I was quite surprised when he told me that. Then to get the call in 2008 was a dream come true. A broken thumb put me out of game two but I was able to play game three in the decider – unfortunately we lost as part of [Queensland’s] eight [straight series wins]. I’d worked really hard and cherish it very much.
YOU WERE AT A DIFFERENT CLUB WHEN THE STORM’S SALARY CAP SCANDAL BROKE. HOW HARD WAS THAT TO WATCH FROM AFAR?
It was still very devastating for us. I think from that 17 that played in the ’07 grand final, there was only two or three other guys that weren’t still at the club. I spoke to Craig Bellamy about that – they were all going through that process together, whereas we were going through it in isolation. It was pretty tough, reading all the reports in the paper and getting accused of different things … it just wasn’t right. It is what it is. Does it take away anything from my career or the grand final or the premiership? No, not one bit.
But 2009 at Newcastle was really devastating for me. I was going to be selected in Origin and ruptured my bicep. That took out the rest of 2009. I was very frustrated and I probably left Newcastle with unfinished business, didn’t contribute as much as I would have liked on the field for them.
YOU THEN PLAYED FOR LEEDS, WIGAN AND WIDNES – ARE THE CROWDS AS AMAZING AS EVERYONE SAYS?
I really loved it. You got to hear things about yourself you probably thought you’d never hear anywhere – especially grounds like Castleford and Wakefield, where the dead-ball line is virtually only a foot away from the fence and you can almost smell the breath and the beer of the fans. That just made the game even better. There might only have been 4,000 people there, but it really felt like there was 40,000.
DATE OF BIRTH
6 December, 1978
CURRENT AGE
47
BIRTHPLACE
Wagga Wagga, NSW
POSITIONS
Prop
PLAYING HISTORY
2003-05: Canberra Raiders
2006-07: Melbourne Storm
2008-10: Newcastle Knights
2011: Leeds
2011: Wigan
2012-13: Widnes
REP FOOTBALL
2007-08: Country Origin
2008: NSW
2008: Australian Prime Minister’s XIII
JUNIOR CLUB
Batemans Bay Tigers
TOTAL NRL MATCHES
95
TRIES | POINTS
0 | 0
