Former Brisbane Broncos premiership winner and cross-code star Brad Thorn has revealed the time he was fined by Wayne Bennett for a training indiscretion in his soon-to-be-released book.
Thorn played under Bennett twice in his career, starting at the Broncos in 1994 before switching to rugby union at the end of 2000. He then returned for Brisbane in 2005 and won the 2006 premiership.
At the start of the forward’s NRL career he split time between sport and university, and ultimately it cost him financially.
“I was a young kid in a room full of legends and the man at the front was Wayne Bennett, an authoritative type of leader who commanded attention and demanded excellence,” he wrote in his book Champions Do Extra.
“Wayne’s mere presence was intimidating to me when I was a newbie. His driving of standards will be what I remember most, however.
“Once, I turned up a minute late for training in the pre-season after rushing straight from a university lecture. I was fined $500 and made to do the brutal eight-kilometre fitness run out at the Enogerra Reservoir first thing on a Sunday morning.
“That was a lot of money for someone like me in the mid-nineties. I was still making a lot of rookie errors in games and in training, so my main goal at team meetings and reviews was to get through them unnoticed.
“My size made me stand out and that was the opposite of what I wanted. I would slouch down into my seat and pull my hat down low over my eyes and hope like anything that I would not get asked anything and that nobody would notice the pools of sweat collecting on my shirt.
“While I was battling anxiety, my whole focus was on trying to stay relaxed.”
Thorn details his battles with anxiety in the book, opening up on his childhood and how he noticed panic-attack style behaviours during school.
That anxiety continued in his career, particularly in the Brisbane Broncos meeting room.
“The Broncos were a big team, different from the traditional Sydney teams in that we were a one-city club, which meant we carried the expectations of a massive fanbase and the pressure of the success the team had enjoyed in winning the previous two premierships,” he wrote.
“In that era of footy, I walked into a dressing room full of big personalities. The game forces friendships on you in a way that other sports might not because in contact sports you rely so much on each other, you have to put your body on the line.
“You need to stay connected on the field, particularly in defence, and it’s easier to do that if you’re at least somewhat connected off it.
“I had guys like Alan Cann, Gavin Allen and Peter Ryan who took me under their wings, but there was no doubt there was an intimidation factor when I looked around the meeting room as a young guy and I had Glenn Lazarus on one side, Allan Langer and Kevin Walters on the other and Wayne up the front.
“Wayne didn’t spare you if you were a young guy. He wouldn’t think twice about giving you a serve in front of the team, no different to anybody else. It was a winning environment. If you were in that room you were there to win games. And if you were a young guy or new to the team the message was clear – learn fast.”
While Bennett may have been hard on Thorn, the benefit was clearly there considering his cross-code career is one of the most celebrated in the southern hemisphere.
Bennett had one word to describe Thorn.
“I don’t use the word ‘principle’ about many people, but he is one of the most principled people I’ve ever met,” he wrote in a foreword.
“In 2007, he captained the Broncos when the Origin players were missing, we won the game, and then during the post-match press conference a journalist asked how he felt leading the club to victory.
“Brad looked down at the Brisbane Broncos emblem on his chest, touched it with his hand, and said, ‘This jersey means everything to me. This emblem means everything to me.’
“And at day’s end that was enough said.”
Brad Thorn’s book Champions Do Extra was published by HarperCollins and is set to be released on January 28.
