Eels Blogs

A number of years ago I was at a function where Wayne Bennett was asked when he knew that Gorden Tallis was captain material.

The great coach regaled a story regarding a 2000 pre-season army-style training camp which the Brisbane Broncos employed on a regular basis for the up-coming season.

At these boot camps players were denied any creature comforts and afforded the minimum of food and sleep. It was an exercise in building both physical and mental toughness.

Allan Langer and Kevin Walters were leaders at the club and shared the captaincy during that season.

With a view to the future the Broncos boss was keeping an eye out for signs of leadership qualities for when that captaincy baton was to be handed on. One of the tasks presented was a simulated hostage situation in which men, women and children were being mistreated by a rebel outfit.

The Broncos were divided into various groups under a team leader and given directions to take up different positions near the trouble spot and await further instructions.

After a short pause and completely against the orders received, Gorden Tallis led his troops on a blitzkrieg raid, blazing straight through the enemy defences.

When asked at the post-exercise briefing about his actions, Gorden said that there was no way that he could sit around waiting whilst he knew atrocities were taking place in the near vicinity.

Wayne Bennett said that was when he knew. When it comes to leadership, actions have always spoken louder than words.

Every weekend I see this in spades in the NRL but every now and then something really hits home.

This time it was at Parramatta Stadium in the clash between the home side and Brisbane last Saturday.

When Eels forward Mitch Allgood was dispatched to the sin-bin his outraged reaction had the potential to lead to further trouble for both him and his team. Now the young prop had just cause to be angry at a shocking decision but going off the deep end was never going to see it reversed and could have put him in a position for a longer stay on the sideline than 10 minutes.

That was until co-captain Jarryd Hayne stepped in and sensibly shepherded his teammate off the field. It was a wonderful display of a cool head in a hot situation from a man who only a month ago was being criticised as not having the right demeanour to lead his side.

Amongst that opinion I was always of the belief that he had the necessary qualities to lead the way and his performance in that moment only reinforced that thought.

I was reminded of the opening lines of Rudyard Kipling's famous poem "If," often quoted in rugby league circles, which opens with "If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you" and ends with "Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!"

This followed a number of weeks where Jarryd was inspirational in coming up with huge defensive plays to save what appeared to be certain tries. Putting your body on the line in such circumstances will earn you more respect than being able to run 80 metres to touch down.

Equally as impressive that night was his opposing skipper Sam Thaiday who threw every fibre of his being at the Parramatta line in a ceaseless effort to lift his side.

His captaincy is also somewhat in its infancy and when he took over from Darren Lockyer there were plenty of questions posed as to whether he had the right temperament.

Like a young Tallis, Sam has never been backward in unleashing the aggressive streak in his game.

Whilst that is still much of the foundation in his approach it now seems to operate within tighter confines but with no lessening in intensity.

With a comparative shortage of experience around him, especially in the forward ranks, Thaiday's displays have epitomised leading by example.

In my early days at Parramatta we were shown an old gridiron tape that featured Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach - a dual Super Bowl winner and a Hall of Famer.

One thing he said resonated deeply within me. He stated that when calling plays he never said "we'll try this" he always said "we'll do this."

In the following years I played under the leadership of one of the game's most successful captains Steve Edge, who played in a remarkable 11 grand finals in all grades during his career and is still the only man to captain two different clubs to first grade premiership titles.

During our 1981 victory over Newtown we were awarded a penalty at a crucial stage from which Edgey called for a cross field place kick from Michael Cronin, a ploy we had used through the course of the season.

I suggested that maybe a better option would be to work it for 5 tackles and then put a bomb up on the last. In no uncertain terms I was told what to do with my idea and to carry out what he had called.

To this day I'm still not convinced that winger Graeme Atkins didn't score from the cross kick and I certainly never questioned the captain again.

The ability to lead however is never confined to those who carry the little "c" next to their name.

The way that a player prepares, treats others with respect, avoids short-cuts and excuses, looks after injuries, is approachable and represents himself and his club has an enormous effect on those around him.

Real leaders do so without trying, just doing.