Sam Thaiday once feared he would never play a single NRL game for the Brisbane Broncos.
Now he’s closing in on 200 games and is the proud captain of the club that gave him his big break after being overlooked by North Queensland.
“It’s been 10 years and I’ve enjoyed every second of it. The highs, the lows, the ups the downs,” Thaiday said ahead of his 18th State of Origin game for Queensland in Sydney on Wednesday night.
Thaiday can still remember arriving at the club and thinking he’d never play one game for the Broncos given the talent around him.
“My first year there was GG (Andrew Gee), Webby (Shane Webcke), Gordie (Tallis), Brad Meyers, Dane Carlaw, Corey Parker. They had all these fantastic forwards,” recalled Thaiday.
“They weren’t just Broncos players, they were Queensland and Australian players.
“I was running around at Ashgrove thinking `holy cow, am I ever going to play first grade at this club, ever?’
“I was fortunate the next couple of years a few blokes retired, a few moved overseas to play and few more were out of form so I got a chance.”
But it’s Origin that holds a special place for Thaiday.
He fondly recalls sitting in the crowded loungeroom of his Townsville home with his family, with everyone on the edge of their seats riding every tackle and every run.
“We were always pumped watching it,” he said.
“We’d go to school the next day and pretend we were players and try to smash each other up.”
Thaiday would attempt to reinact the feats of childhood hero Gorden Tallis, who intimidated rivals with his passion and aggression.
“I was a huge fan of Gordie’s as a kid,” he said.
“We played the same position – he was a Townsville boy, I was a Townsville boy. He was one of the players I used to pretend I was in the backyard.
“If you asked my mum and my brothers they’d say I was just as aggro, but I think I’m past those days now.”