Distinctive in his bulky headgear, no-frills front-rower Bruce Sinclair carved out a decade-long career in the premiership with Balmain, North Sydney, Eastern Suburbs and North Queensland. Big League tracked down the popular Tamworth product.
G’DAY BRUCE, CAN YOU FILL US IN ON WHERE YOU ARE NOW AND WHAT YOU’RE UP TO, 30 YEARS AFTER HANGING UP THE BOOTS?
I’ve been in the swimming pool industry for about 25 years, driving around Sydney and selling pool equipment – so I’m everyone’s best friend in the summer. I married a girl from the eastern suburbs and they don’t leave, mate. So it was back to Sydney [after finishing with the Cowboys].
HOW DID A YOUNG BLOKE FROM TAMWORTH END UP AT BALMAIN?
I played for Wests Tamworth in the early-eighties under [former Test fullback] Ray Laird, then Steve Martin – the original ‘Whiz’ – came in as captain-coach [in 1985]. Steve had a lot to with the move to Balmain. I had just played NSW under-18s and I had a fair bit of interest. I had a year out with a bad shoulder and then Steve came to Tamworth and [recommended] me to Balmain.
HOW DID YOU ADAPT TO SYDNEY LIFE AS A COUNTRY BOY?
Originally I couldn’t wait to get back to Tamworth. Then I got to a point where I couldn’t think of anything worse than going back to Tamworth. But it took a while – five, six, seven years. And then obviously after I met my wife I wasn’t going anywhere.
YOU HAD THREE SEASONS WITH THE TIGERS, BUT IT WAS HARD TO CRACK THAT STAR-STUDDED FORWARD PACK ON A PERMANENT BASIS…
Yeah, I had a go at first grade every year I was at Balmain – I went on [as a reserve] in 1986, won a Panasonic Cup final in 1987, but I couldn’t get a [regular] run. They had so many great players. That was a huge part of the motivation to go to North Sydney. Steve Martin was the reserve grade coach in my first year there (1989) under Frank Stanton, and then Steve took over as first grade coach in 1990. It was a good couple of years there.
THEN THE MOVE TO EASTS AND A BREAKOUT YEAR FOR YOU IN A MUCH-IMPROVED ROOSTERS TEAM IN 1992, PLAYING ALL BUT ONE GAME. WHAT WAS BEHIND THAT RISE FROM PART-TIME FIRST GRADER TO FIRST-CHOICE FRONT-ROWER?
It was a combination of a couple of things: a bit of luck, I’d had my fair share of injuries and I didn’t have any that year; and just the whole team playing well where we got on a bit of a roll. It was a lot of fun. We nearly made the finals – it was a top five and we finished sixth. Jack Gibson was there as a bit of a coaching mentor in the background for Mark Murray, who did a great job. Mark got moved on in mid-1994 and Arthur Beetson came in [as caretaker coach] before Phil Gould took over.
There’s heaps of personalities that stand out. I went to a reunion four or five weeks ago, I caught up with a lovely bloke I played with at the Roosters, Michael Appleby – he got the nickname ‘Mirrors’, because he couldn’t stop looking at himself.
A BIG SEA CHANGE AFTER ALMOST A DECADE IN SYDNEY, TAKING UP AN OFFER TO JOIN THE COWBOYS FOR THEIR FIRST SEASON IN 1995. WAS IT A HARD SELL TO GET YOU TO TOWNSVILLE?
Townsville’s a great town, it’s just a big country town. And coming from Tamworth, Townsville was a great spot. The people were great. One of my greatest memories is from the very first game. The stadium was a converted trotting track in Kirwan, out the back of Townsville. We turned up in the bus and every single person in Townsville was there for that first game. I think about eighty percent of the people there were blind drunk. They were hanging off the trees, screaming at the bus – it was hilarious! Great passion, the North Queensland people.
Then when we won our first game, we beat Illawarra in Wollongong, and we were sponsored by Fourex – there was not a beer left in the shed after that game. When we got back to Townsville, there was two or three hundred people waiting at the airport for us at about eleven o’clock at night. They’re just very passionate about their rugby league.
We only won two games that first year and we were on a plane every second weekend, but it was just a great environment.
YOU TURNED 30 THAT YEAR AND THE SUPER LEAGUE WAR RICHES FLOODED THE GAME, BUT YOU RETIRED. WAS THAT DECISION YOURS?
I’ll never forget it. We were sitting in the sheds after a game and [Super League executive] John Ribot climbed through the window and spoke to us about Super League. The club’s chairman worked at News Limited from memory, so I think the Cowboys were always going to sign with Super League.
But I was at a point in my life where I’d been playing for ten years in Sydney, I’d been playing since I was nine, and I just wanted to retire. I could’ve played in France for three years on nearly two hundred grand a year. It was crazy money, but I just couldn’t – I didn’t want to play anymore. It’d gone from a game that I loved, to not really wanting to do it anymore. It was just one of those things in life.
YOU WERE REGARDED AS A NO-NONSENSE FRONT-ROWER IN A TOUGH ERA. ANY OPPONENTS THAT STAND OUT FROM YOUR CAREER AS PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT TO COME UP AGAINST? AND MEMORABLE TEAMMATES?
As Jack Gibson used to say, a punch in the face in Moree is the same as a punch in the face in Sydney – they both hurt. But I always found the winger from Illawarra, Rod Wishart, he was like a rock. And ‘Alfie’ [Langer], you just couldn’t grab him – he was a fantastic player.
Gary Freeman, he also got the nickname ‘Whiz’, I played with him at Balmain and then the Roosters. Following him up the field in games was amazing, he was just such a great player. He had such a great second effort – he’d do that big effort, hit the deck then do it again.
HOW CLOSELY DO YOU FOLLOW THE GAME THESE DAYS?
If I follow a team, it’s probably the Roosters. I follow the Cowboys a bit, obviously the Tigers have merged and the Bears are no longer in it. And I live at Randwick which is six [kilometres] away from the stadium at Moore Park there. I do struggle with the rules, though. I know the rules haven’t changed that much, but the interpretation of the rules is something that I find very challenging.
DATE OF BIRTH
25 January, 1965
CURRENT AGE
60
BIRTHPLACE
Tamworth, NSW
POSITION
Prop, second-row
PLAYING HISTORY
1986-88: Balmain Tigers
1989-90: North Sydney Bears
1991-94: Eastern Suburbs Roosters
1995: North Queensland Cowboys
JUNIOR CLUB
Wests Tamworth
TOTAL MATCHES
89
TRIES | POINTS
1 | 4
