Aspiring young Brisbane forward Jarrod Wallace doesn’t need to think too hard about who his idol was growing up.
The usual names – Shane Webcke, Glenn Lazarus and Petero Civoniceva – spring to mind but Wallace found inspiration a litter closer to home.
“My dad Craig was my hero as a kid,” says the 106kg forward who’ll make his second appearance of the season off the bench against the Gold Coast in Friday night’s local derby at Suncorp Stadium.
His only other appearance was in front of almost 40,000 fans against South Sydney earlier this month when he willingly ripped in against the biggest pack in the NRL.
“Watching dad play growing up, he always wanted to be the best forward on the field for his teammates,” said Wallace.
“He’s definitely my idol. He’s at every game I play and he rings me before every game no matter where it is.
“He’s my toughest critic and my biggest fan.”
Wallace’s father Craig started playing rugby league with the Runaway Bay juniors.
His playing career spanned 34 years with long stints with both the Mudgee Dragons and Sawtell Panthers.
Revered as a hard-as-nails front-rower, he represented NSW Country, playing against a young Matt Cooper, before finally hanging up his boots as captain-coach of Tweed Head Seagulls in 2009.
Despite playing representative football, grand finals and overseas, he rated packing down in scrums with son Jarrod for the Sawtell Panthers and Tweed Heads among his biggest thrills and career highlights.
“The only reason dad didn’t go to the next step was because he knocked back a contract from a Sydney club to start a family on the Tweed,” said Wallace junior.
Wallace had a busy 10 minutes against Souths with six hit ups and nine tackles.
“I didn’t know how many minutes I was going to get, I just wanted to do as much as I could for the boys,” he said.
“If I had to do 10 or 15 hit ups in that time or make 30 tackles, if that’s what I had to do, that’s what I had to do.”
Broncos coach Anthony Griffin is a fan of Wallace’s attitude and work ethic.
“He’s a big strong kid who works really hard who could see more action when we lose players to Origin duty,” said Griffin.
