To appreciate how tough Kurt Mann is you only have to listen to some of the wild stories from his upbringing in Winton, a tiny town of 900 people in the middle of Queensland.
For starters, there were two serious car accidents by the time he was 10 years old.
“The first one I was about three years of age when a car rolled,” Mann says.
“I don’t remember it, but my brother Joel, who is seven years older, held on to me the whole time because I didn’t have a seatbelt. He broke his arm while holding me. My cousin was driving, she was only about 16, but flipped the car on a dirt road.
“The second time I was nine or 10 and pig shooting in the back of a Suzuki when we put it into a creek bed.”
Mann was one of three kids who grew up in a housing commission. Winton, nearly 1400km north-west of Brisbane, is where Qantas and the famous song Waltzing Matilda originated, and is home to a dinosaur museum.
Terminator: Tough Bulldog Kurt Mann with the black (and red) eye he first suffered in round one.Credit: NRL Photos
You don’t have to look too far or too hard to find the origins of Mann’s tough approach to the game.
His dad, Tyke, was famous in local league circles for starting fights.
“He was a hard head, a front-rower, who was known more for fighting in footy games,” Mann recalls.
“Mum used to refuse to watch him play because he was always getting sent off. The crowd would abuse him, then abuse Mum. She hated it.
“I actually don’t know how the old man is still alive. He’s cheated death a few times. He fell off a roof and shattered his leg. He still gets around on this bent leg. He needs to get it cut off, but he refuses to do it.
“Before I was born, he drove his car beneath a parked semi-trailer and nearly took his head off. The roof came off the car. The nearest hospital to Winton was Longreach, so his mates threw him into the back of a ute. He carked it [died] on the way there, but they somehow got him back.”
Mann’s toughness was already well known to Bulldogs fans, but the rest of the league community took notice after he posted a photo on social media of himself with a black eye following the round one clash with the Dragons.
Kurt Mann and that infamous black eye.
Mann clashed with winger Christian Tuipulotu, but finished the game, and was cleared of any fractures.
“I remember waking up the next morning and my eye was completely closed,” Mann says. “I wasn’t worried because I knew it wasn’t broken, and I could press on the bones without it being sore.
“The following day I could start to open it a little bit. But three weeks on and it’s still bloodshot. It doesn’t look great.
“My kids [Huxley, six, and three-year-old Sunday] were a little scared. If they were playing up at home, I’d just stare at them and they’d shit themselves.
“When I spoke to dad, he laughed and told me he had done much worse.”
Mann’s bloody eye makes him look like the Terminator. It befits his uncompromising approach to football, which evokes memories of the “Dogs of war” era at the club, when Canterbury players prided themselves on bashing the opposition and being relentless.
A young Kurt Mann playing for Longreach in country Queensland.
A former player who fitted that bill was Jason Hetherington, who also hails from country Queensland.
Hetherington was once forced to drive himself to Rockhampton Hospital in his trusty Datsun 120Y after his jaw was shattered while playing against men for the Moura Tigers. Moura had won the final and the players, including Hetherington’s older brother, wanted to celebrate with a few beers, which left Hetherington to make the painful trip on his own.
As for Mann, Hetherington, who spent seven seasons at Canterbury, said: “He’s no nonsense, as tough as nails, and gets on with the job. You know what you will get him every week.”
Now 32, and only a few weeks away from playing his 200th NRL game, Mann signed a one-year contract extension this week. The journey started at Melbourne, when he made his debut at centre for the Storm against Manly in 2014, and scored the match-winner.
Kurt Mann scores against the Wests Tigers last year.Credit: Getty
He spent time on the wing, in the halves and any other role that needed plugging during his three seasons with the Dragons, then did likewise for five years at the Knights.
But Canterbury is where Mann has felt most at home, even though vibrant, multicultural Belmore could not be any more different from downtown Winton.
Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo has used Mann as a middle forward and often off the bench once fatigues sets into games.
“My game has improved out of sight since coming here, and I put that down to ‘Ciro’,” Mann says. “He trusts me, he believes in what I do, and in the influence I have around the group. I haven’t really had that at other clubs.
“He also keeps things super simple. It almost looks like stuff the under-8s would do, but the way he wants us to do it is the biggest part.
“I enjoy playing in the middle. Even though I’m not the biggest bloke, the thing I’ll miss most about playing footy is the physical side of it.”
Kevin Walters coached Mann in the under-20s Queensland Origin side in 2012. Mann is the last player from that team still playing in the NRL. And Walters said Mann’s experience in the halves had now made him a bigger threat in the middle, including a slick passing game, and the “show and go”.
The Dogs are expected to beat Parramatta comfortably on Sunday afternoon. Expect Mann to give the Eels hell.
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