MARK, IT’S BEEN ALMOST 20 YEARS SINCE YOU CALLED TIME ON A MEMORABLE CAREER – WHAT DO YOU DO TO KEEP BUSY NOWADAYS?
I’m a disability support worker these days, so I’m still living on the Gold Coast. Me and my wife have started a little business, looking after disability support and taking our clients out in the community, keeping them more active and fit and healthy.
I also still have my business Big Tooks Sports, we do all sorts of sporting events: I’ve done a couple of boxing events in the last couple of years, I do golf days and that type of thing. I also still coordinate marathons as my events. I still do as much as I can as an ambassador for the New Zealand Warriors, so whenever they’re over here – Magic Round and in Queensland when they play the Broncos – I do as much as I can to help them out.
I was lucky enough to set up the sheds up last time [when the Warriors played] against the Dolphins [at Suncorp Stadium], I was very honoured to do that, and I think I’m required again to help out when they play the Broncos in a couple of weeks.
YOU CUT A VERY SVELTE FIGURE THESE DAYS, MATE. OBVIOUSLY DURING YOUR PLAYING DAYS YOU WERE A BEEFY, BURLY TYPE – CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH HOW YOUR TRANSFORMED YOURSELF?
I just I got very sick, maybe 10 or 12 years ago now. Very overweight, [I had] diabetes and everything like that, and I just dieted myself out of it. The penny kind of dropped. I ate too much and I wasn’t doing enough exercise, so I was preparing to do a marathon and I dropped about 35 kilos. Just training and eating better.
I don’t need to have that muscle base anymore, the bulk. I play a lot of golf these days and the body’s a lot smaller. I wouldn’t say I’m fitter, I’m just a bit lighter.
YOU’VE TALKED IN THE PAST ABOUT HAVING A BIT OF REGRET ABOUT NOT BEING IN A BIT BETTER CONDITION DURING YOUR HEYDAY AND THAT MAYBE YOU COULD HAVE GONE A BIT FURTHER IN THE GAME…
Oh, yeah. One hundred percent, mate. I just had a bad relationship with food. I still do, but I just need a lot less nowadays. It was a lifetime thing that I’ve had a bad relationship with food … if I feel like eating something, I just eat it. I had no self-control, so I had to train extra hard to basically keep my weight where it was at, which was a little bit too heavy to be playing NRL. But when I look back on it, mate, to be honest with you, I don’t think I was strong enough to not have the weight on me.
I remember getting down to about 111 kilos and it was just that little bit too light to be able to bounce people off and stuff like that. I definitely regret not getting in better shape – I may have gone on and done a few better things, maybe played Origin. But mate, we live, we learn and I’ve had a good life.
YOU BROKE INTO THE BIG TIME WITH THE SOUTH QUEENSLAND CRUSHERS IN 1996, PLAYING ALONGSIDE SOME ORIGIN GREATS BUT THE CLUB WAS STRUGGLING AND THE SUPER LEAGUE WAR WAS RAGING – IT MUST HAVE BEEN AN INTERESTING TIME TO BE ROOKIE?
You pretty much hit the nail on the head there. It was the middle of Super League, the Broncos were an absolute juggernaut in Brisbane and we came in to try and compete with them and it was probably just not the right time. I think if the Crushers had their time again, they would do it a little bit better.
I honestly believe if the Crushers were still around today, I would’ve been a one-club man. I absolutely loved the club and everything it stood for. I was very gutted when [the club folded] but everything happens for a reason, mate.
YOU LANDED ON YOUR FEET BY JOINING A HEAVYWEIGHT CLUB IN 1998, PLAYING IN BACK-TO-BACK PRELIMS WITH PARRAMATTA. HOW DO YOU REFLECT ON YOUR TWO YEARS WITH THE EELS?
It all started at the Crushers, but [my career] definitely got kick-started and elevated by Parramatta and the success that we had there. [Experienced players like] Dean Pay, Jason Smith, Jim Dymock, and Nathan Cayless, Nathan Hindmarsh, Mick Vella all played for their country. We were unlucky not to go one step further into a grand final, but I absolutely enjoyed my time there. The club was really great.
SO HOW DID THE MOVE TO AUCKLAND COME ABOUT? DID THE WARRIORS LURE YOU OVER OR WERE THE EELS LOOKING TO GO IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION?
It was around that time when they brought in the limited interchange – up until my first year at Parramatta, it was unlimited. So I could come on, create a bit of havoc for five minutes, go off, have a rest, come back on, then do it again. [Eels coach] Brian Smith basically pulled me aside and – he was actually calling my bluff as I look back on it – he said that the game’s going to pass me by a little bit with limited interchange, you’re not fit enough and blah, blah, blah.
So that was when my manager basically went to market and [the Warriors] got in contact with him and we met in Sydney. The rest is history.
AFTER A MIXED FIRST COUPLE OF SEASONS INJURY- AND FORM-WISE WITH THE WARRIORS, YOU PLAYED A CAREER-HIGH 24 GAMES AS THE CLUB WON THE MINOR PREMIERSHIP AND REACHED THE GRAND FINAL. IT WAS THE WARRIORS’ BEST SEASON, BUT DO YOU SEE IT AS YOURS AS WELL?
Yeah, absolutely. We were building when I first got over there, they still had Joe Vagana and Terry Hermansson, so there was some very established first-grade props over there. I didn’t go over there thinking I was just going to dominate. I was still only a young fellow and I really enjoyed my time beneath those two those leaders of our pack. We spent a lot of time together. Joey went to England and ‘Rock’ (Hermansson) retired.
The club was definitely building and in 2002 we had a really good skill mix of up-and-coming Aussie players, but some of our young Kiwi boys were outstanding.
EVERYONE REMEMBERS THAT WARRIORS ERA FOR THEIR FLAIR, BUT TALKING TO ANYONE IN THAT TEAM THE IMPORTANCE AND TOUGHNESS OF THE PACK ALWAYS GETS MENTIONED. IT MUST BE SATISFYING TO HAVE BEEN PART OF THE GROUP THAT LAID THE PLATFORM FOR A GRAND FINAL DRIVE?
Yeah you’ve got [Richard Villasanti, Kevin Campion], Awen Guttenbeil, Ali Lauitiiti, Monty Betham Wairangi Koopu, Logan Swann – we had a really good pack. And we had two front rowers standing on the wing with Francis Meli and Henry Fa’afili as well.
So we had a really good side and it was just a great year. ‘Campo’ obviously was one of the leaders with Stacey (Jones) and Monty, and we had really good skill. Everyone really wanted to work hard for each other. Other than Stacey, I don’t think we would’ve had anyone you would say were superstars in our team.
We all just had a common goal and everything clicked really. It was pretty much a fairytale year other than the ending [in the grand final].
HOW DID YOU FIND BEING SOMETHING OF A NEW-AGE FRONT-ROWER, COMING IN DURING THE ERA OF THE LAST GENUINE ENFORCERS – PAUL HARRAGON, MARK CARROLL, GLENN LAZARUS, ADRIAN MORLEY AND CO?
I enjoyed playing against those guys – I wouldn’t put my name down as an enforcer. I was never really fit enough to take the game by the balls and go hard at it, I just went out there and played my role to tell you the truth. Bit of no-frills footy, just running the ball hard, play the ball fast and then play off the back of that.
That was basically all Stacey and those boys needed me to do. And if anyone ran straight at me, obviously I’d try and hurt them or go hard at them. It was a very simple game back then.
IN 2004 THE WARRIORS WENT OFF THE RAILS AND YOU WERE ONE OF SEVERAL PLAYERS TO LEAVE MID-SEASON. THAT MUST HAVE BEEN TOUGH AFTER EVERYTHING THE TEAM HAD ACHIEVED IN THE PREVIOUS FEW YEARS?
It all started to capitulate a little bit … we were losing games we should have won. And I think they called Ali in and had a bit of a meeting – next thing we know Ali is being marched out of the gym there and then, and we all know what the islander boys are like, we were like a family.
So that really stirred up the applecart and it was a bit of a domino effect after that. I think [coach] Daniel Anderson may have been the next one to quit. I was playing reserve grade at Mount Albert and you had to play a quota of NRL games to go to England – my percentage was getting close to not being able to go. I basically made the decision and was out of the club in about 10 days. We had to get a visa sorted and then I had to tell the boys, then I went over to Castleford to try and get them out of relegation.
AFTER THAT SHORT STINT AT CASTLEFORD, YOU WERE A BIT OF AN IRONMAN IN TWO SEASONS FOR THE LONDON BRONCOS. A MEMORABLE FINISH TO YOUR CAREER?
England was absolutely amazing. Castleford’s the smallest town you’ve ever seen in rugby league – they know where you are every minute of the day. They kept a close eye on us and they let us know about it … we were very scrutinised. We ended up winning six of the last 10 games but still got relegated.
I was in London having a holiday with the family before coming home to Australia to retire or find the next chapter of footy. [London Broncos coach] Tony Rea had contacted my manager and said they were interested and I signed a two-year deal there. London, mate, no one knows who you are or what you are and no one cares – I really enjoyed my time there as well.
YOU MISSED OUT ON A QUEENSLAND ORIGIN JERSEY, BUT THERE WAS ONE SIGNIFCANT REP HIGHLIGHT: PLAYING FOR THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINALS TEAM IN 1999…
I wasn’t born to an Aboriginal mum or dad, but I was raised by my stepdad [who was Indigenous] so that’s what qualified me. I just had to get an affidavit signed at the time. I do a whole lot of work in the Aboriginal space. I’m an ambassador for the Arthur Beetson Foundation now still today, we go out to the missions and we help out all the kids and stuff. I’m totally accepted as an Aboriginal person and absolutely love my history and heritage.
To play in that side, we had Cliffy Lyons as our captain an Arthur Beetson was our coach – just the talent in that side. We played against Papua New Guinea and I had an absolute ball.
