A promotional video shoot at Channel Nine’s North Sydney headquarters has reached a mini-hiatus, and Newcastle’s veteran forward Tyson Frizell is looking to kill some time.
Unlike the vast majority of players to have passed through the building before him, he doesn’t automatically start scrolling through his phone. He instead grabs a copy of this masthead and a pen, and flicks through to the crosswords and puzzles.
“Hey cuz, how do I do this one?” he inquires of teammate Jayden Brailey. Next thing Brailey is explaining the basics of Sudoku, and one of the oldest, toughest dogs in the NRL is on his way to learning a new trick.
Somehow this all seems the perfect metaphor as Frizell prepares for his 15th season in the NRL, still striving to tick that one last box.
At 33, Frizell’s career CV highlights what a warhorse he has been, and still is: 258 NRL games, 16 Origins for NSW, 14 Tests for Australia, five Tests for Wales and three for Tonga. He is, in other words, a proven big-game performer.
Tyson Frizell has helped win Origin series and World Cups, but is still chasing his first premiership.Credit: Getty Images
But this ultimate competitor is yet to run out in a grand final, let alone win one, and Frizell needs no reminding that Father Time is looming large in the rearview mirror.
He does not have to look far to find a kindred spirit.
Lining up alongside him on Newcastle’s right edge each week for the past three seasons has been the equally decorated Dane Gagai: 290 top-grade games, 23 Origins for Queensland and seven Tests for the Kangaroos.
Gagai is 34, but jokes: “I’m older, but I tell him he’s older because he’s done one more pre-season.”
Dane Gagai has spent 15 seasons chasing a premiership.Credit: Getty Images
Whatever the case, they both made their debuts in 2011 and are preparing for their 15th campaign in pursuit of rugby league’s Holy Grail.
Gagai came within touching distance in 2021, when South Sydney lost the grand final 14-12 to kick off Penrith’s premiership dynasty. Had Cody Walker hit Gagai on the chest with a short ball, rather than throwing a floater that Stephen Crichton famously intercepted, the story might have ended differently.
“A lot of players go their whole careers without playing in a grand final,” Gagai reflected.
“It’s not easy to do, and there are 16 other teams working as hard as they can to win it, too. I mean Penrith have won four in a row and no doubt they’ll be thinking they can make it five.
“Obviously winning the comp is the end goal, but it’s about focusing on every little step along the way and enjoying the journey.”
Like Frizell, Gagai isn’t necessarily drinking in the last-chance saloon. Both players have contractual options that could enable them to stay in Newcastle beyond this year.
But time clearly is of the essence. There are only so many premierships to go around.
It’s the same ticking-clock scenario for a host of the NRL’s elder statesmen, headed by 34-year-old Ben Hunt, who has returned to Brisbane after his release from the Dragons.
Ben Hunt’s only grand final appearance ended in heartache in 2015.Credit: Getty Images
Hunt has forged a remarkable career: 334 NRL games, 20 Origins and 15 Tests. But his only grand final appearance, in 2015, ended in disaster, when he dropped the kick-off in golden point extra time, which ultimately allowed Cowboys champion Johnathan Thurston to kick a famous title-clinching field goal.
Hunt at least has the bittersweet memory of appearing in a decider.
His 35-year-old teammate Marty Taupau has never made it that far, after a 255-game NRL career and 33 Tests for the Kiwis and Samoa.
Other long-serving stalwarts still chasing their first premiership rings include the aforementioned Walker and Dolphins prop Mark Nicholls (both 35), who were runners up alongside Gagai in 2021, as well as Josh Papalii and Jack Wighton (both 32), who were both part of Canberra’s gallant loss to the Roosters in 2019.
Meanwhile, Ben Murdoch-Masila (34), Jack de Belin (33) and Michael Chee-Kam (32) head a long list of 30-somethings still waiting for their first invite to the Big Dance, along with names such as Jake Trbojevic, John Bateman and Cameron McInnes.
Winning a premiership, of course, is often a case of being in the right place at the right time, and there have been no shortage of all-time greats through the decades who finished empty-handed.
Among the who’s who of legends to have hung up the boots without experiencing the elation of a grand final lap of honour are Nathan Hindmarsh, Andrew Ettingshausen, Wayne Pearce, Steve Roach, Ben Elias, Paul Sironen and the late, great Tom Raudonikis.
Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend how cruel the game can be.
For example, Geoff Gerard, who in 1989 became the first player to crack the 300-game barrier, lost four grand finals: two with Parramatta (1976-77) and two with Manly (1982-83).
One of Gerard’s former teammates, Phil Sigsworth, will have few fond memories of grand finals, after losses with Newtown (1981), Manly (1983) and Canterbury (1986). That cursed run culminated in him being sent off in the latter, after a clumsy high tackle.
Tom Raudonikis (left) and Phil Sigsworth helped Newtown reach the 1981 grand final, but they were outgunned by Parramatta.Credit: SMH
More recently, Krisnan Inu (Parramatta 2009, Warriors 2011 and Canterbury 2012) emulated Sigsworth’s unenviable feat of losing three grand finals with three different teams.
Likewise, it was a case of so near but yet so far for Brad Mackay with the Dragons in 1992-93 and 1999.
Does any of that detract from how we remember them as players? Most fans surely understand that for every rugby league fairytale there is usually an equal and opposite reaction.
Frizell, meanwhile, will continue working tirelessly to turn his premiership dream into a reality.
“It’s a goal every year, something to strive for, and that’s the same for every player,” Frizell said. “Is it going to be the be all and end all if I don’t achieve it?
“I guess, so be it. I’ve been blessed with a great career, plenty of experiences and friendships, and been able to share that with my teammates.
“We all have goals and dreams, and that [a premiership] definitely is one, but that’s the same every year.”
Frizell then adds with a wry smile: “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”
Rest assured he fully intends to. For the time being, a Sudoku will have to suffice.
