There’s a well-known yarn from Brisbane coach Kevin Walters, again when one in every of rugby league’s nice comedians and opponents saddled up for his 14th first-grade season in his thirty third 12 months on this rock.
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Walters had spent nearly all of his profession operating alongside fellow jester Allan Langer in the back of the coaching pack, cracking gags and successful premierships for the Broncos within the course of.
However when Langer left the membership, Walters was captain for the 2000 pre-season, and strode from the again of the pack to the very entrance within the membership’s notorious seven kilometre bush run round The Hole.
He was hardly ever headed in any health drill that season, main a star-studded roster of internationals and Origin stars to yet one more title.
Possessing a supremely gifted younger squad however needing a captain of comparable ilk a couple of years in the past, Walters went to market and purchased a 30-year-old Adam Reynolds when South Sydney wouldn’t provide him extra than a one-year extension.
On Thursday Reynolds squares off along with his previous halves companion Cody Walker, one other ageless clown prince in a season that includes extra gamers aged 30 or over than ever earlier than within the NRL period.
The stakes are raised by one veteran playmaker and one of many NRL’s glamour golf equipment strolling away from Suncorp Stadium with a 0-2 begin to the season.
Walker (34) and Reynolds (33) have seen all of it earlier than although, and lead a clutch of Tom Brady-esque playmakers within the sport proper now, with Daly Cherry-Evans (35), Ben Hunt and Shaun Johnson (each 33) all taking part in the most effective footy of their careers as they develop slower within the legs however faster between the ears.
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