Reduced to hosting comedy nights and manual labour as he strives to find a new club, former NRL funny man Shane Shackleton simply cannot appreciate the lighter side of Blake Ferguson's pro boxing debut next week.
"I'd love to fight him," Shackleton said. "To me it just all seems a bit flippant.
"I look at someone like Blake, with all the talent and opportunity in the world, and he just seems to be intent on wasting it all.
"To be honest that pisses me off a little bit, because so many players work so hard and get nothing.
"It's hard to watch someone so naturally gifted take it for granted."
From City Origin honours in 2009, Shackleton has not been sighted in first grade since midway through 2012. In the meantime he's won the NSW Cup Player of the Year and equivalent award for Mounties last season, but has started pre-season training in solitude despite the fact several NRL clubs are desperate for depth up front.
The days of Shackleton's hilarious impersonations of ex-Eels team mate Fuifui Moimoi grabbing regular laughs on The Footy Show are long gone. To make ends meet the ginger-haired prop been MC-ing events, including comedy nights, while staying fit through some pad work of his own.
Boxing drills at Liverpool PCYC enticed the 31-year-old into the ring for a four-round charity bout last Saturday night. In the absence of any offers, he's keen to go further - starting opposite fellow novice Ferguson on the undercard on next Wednesday night's Anthony Mundine-Shane Mosley fight at Acer Arena.
"I actually like Blake as a bloke from when we played together at Mounties this year, but it's clear they are just going to put some nuffie in there to make him look good," Shackleton said.
"It would be more credible to take on someone with the same background - and a big point to prove."
Let me say that I'm not interested in Parra re-signing him. But it would be good to see him make something of himself. The guy is still working hard and he wants back in the big time. It was a sad way to see him end his career in the NSW Cup, especially seeing as he was named as the player of the year in 2012. Maybe an ESL club could come calling, he'd probably be a decent player over there.
Also, Ferguson should take on Shack. Would be interesting to see how a guy who threw out his contract would take on someone who's hit the bottom of the barrel.
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To true!
seemed like a nice enough bloke just giving it a good ol' crack.
He will never be a legend but he got way further than most on just hard work.
Poor bastard was never the same after that terrible injury he copped, still he was never big enough to play front row and after his injury wasn't quite mobile enough for the back row.