It says something about a press conference’s news value when the biggest revelation is the fact it’s Craig Bellamy’s birthday today. Melbourne’s master is about to coach a 10th NRL grand final, and the host wanted to know if the prospect gets more or less stressful over time.
“I don’t really think too much about that,” Bellamy began. “Actually, it’s my birthday today. I’m 66, so I can’t remember what I did yesterday sometimes. So to remember our last grand final … yeah, I haven’t got many thoughts on that at all.”
At least none he was willing to share with the media and few hundred members of the public listening in. Grand final week is always stuffed full of events both teams must pick their way through just to get to Sunday night, let alone actually play for the premiership.
Thursday’s festivities marked a similar exercise in survival. A case of ‘you got through the Dally M Medal ceremony and the various media days, now onwards and upwards to the confected drama of the NRL Fan Fest’. Where all those bucket loads of “bad blood” can be spilled under Sydney’s sun and skyscrapers (but in a child-friendly manner because it’s the school holidays).
Melbourne and Penrith didn’t even need to bring the real thing to the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay – the organisers of the joint presentation had it pre-manufactured and ready to go. Because nothing screams bad blood like a boxing weigh-in-style standoff to a backdrop resembling a local fete.
Kids with cardboard cut-outs hovered in groups with adult chaperones as each opposing set of Panthers and Storm players was introduced, stepped up from opposite sides of the stage and stared each other down, the Provan-Summons Trophy glistening enticingly between them.
The NRL Fan Fest drew a wholesome bunch to Circular Quay on Thursday.Credit: Louise Kennerley
There were cheers – the heartiest were reserved for Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai – and boos at the ready to greet freshly minted Dally M player of the year Jahrome Hughes and Liam Martin’s nemesis-turned-best bro Cameron Munster, who was in quick-witted form.
“Are you ready to fire on Sunday?” the host asked Munster.
“I haven’t fired all year, so I’m due,” he replied.
“What’s your preparation like?” she prodded further.
Harry Grant and Nathan Cleary pose with the Provan-Summons trophy.Credit: Steven Siewert
“Usually a banana and yoghurt in the morning,” he said.
Like Munster’s choice of breakfast, the event was wholesome and nourishing. Reece Walsh wasn’t even there to sledge a teenage fan this time.
Then came the transition to official pre-match press conference mode – 15 minutes of doof-doof music while families sat on the pavement and ate their pre-packed lunches. Two tables were brought onto the stage, and up went Bellamy, Harry Grant, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Josh King to sit at one and Ivan Cleary, Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo and Luai at the other.
Eight guys sitting side by side, squinting into the sun, straight-batting questions until they would be released for some downtime before training that afternoon.
Nathan Cleary had the right idea, simply repeating it’s “feeling really good” to every enquiry about the status of his shoulder, and remaining otherwise motionless. Still, having him and Josh King in the same place at the same time was an opportunity not to be missed. King laid the round-24 tackle that aggravated the injury and sidelined the star halfback for the final three weeks of the regular season.
Was Cleary extra still when King was asked about the nature of that tackle – a reported sore point for Penrith? And did the corner of his mouth just twitch a little when King insisted “I certainly wasn’t trying to do any wrestling moves or anything like that”? Is there a body language expert in the house?
That non-reaction was all we had, because Cleary answered the follow-up question as if the tackle had never been a talking point to begin with. “Honestly, I didn’t even think of it at the time,” he said. “It was just one of those unlucky positions. It’s just an injury. It was unfortunate. A lot of things have to happen and it’s a contact sport, so I don’t even think about it like that.”
The only person to rival Cleary’s interstate diplomacy was his father, when asked if he could see a world in which he could juggle his Panthers coaching commitments with those of the just-vacated NSW State of Origin job. Ivan appeared flummoxed, as if his name has not been doing the rounds since Michael Maguire was appointed by the Brisbane Broncos, and then delivered the clincher: “Was that [question] for me?”
In the end, Bellamy answered it by warning he would never again try to do both at once and the Blues “need someone independent of coaching in the NRL”. Then he finished the show with another bit of breaking news and an unintended morsel of comic timing.
Did he plan to continue coaching past his 70th birthday, or did Jahrome Hughes have it right when he predicted such stretched longevity would risk him suffering a mid-match heart attack in the box? “I’m not quite sure how long the fire’s going to burn, but at the end of the day I don’t think I’ll see 70,” he said, before a long pause and then a clarification. “In footy, I mean.”
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