Having finally seen his deal with South Sydney rubber-stamped, Greg Inglis is looking forward to forgetting about 2010 and concentrating on football again, writes Glenn Jackson.
New Year’s Day and, for Greg Inglis, it represents the start of a bold new journey – and the end of an awful one.
His resolution: ”After this deal [with South Sydney] was done, I just said to myself, ‘I’ve got to get back and concentrate on footy, put everything aside and just focus on football.’ Last year was a horrible year. I want to get back and play footy and start enjoying it again.”
Inglis, the 23-year-old Test and Origin superstar, will train with the Rabbitohs officially for the first time on Tuesday. And yesterday he revealed just how close he came to walking away from the NRL due to the problems associated with his Souths deal. Along with his wife Sally, whom he wed last month, Inglis met NRL chief executive David Gallop at Bronte on Christmas Eve, telling him how serious he was about a move to the AFL and his need to make a decision on his future.
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”I think he knew then that I was pretty serious,” Inglis said yesterday. ”I got a phone call that evening saying it was a done deal. I think that meeting put the crunch on everything. Every day had been an ordeal. But it wasn’t only for me, it was for Essendon as well. They had to move. I had to get everything done and know where my future was going to be.”
In his first interview since being cleared to play for the Rabbitohs, Inglis told the Herald:
? reports about his ballooning weight were greatly exaggerated;
? his former club Melbourne still owed him ”a lot of money”, and he was considering legal action, and;
? he is comfortable with his role in the Brisbane deal, which fell through.
THE BOMBERS
As the Souths contract saga dragged on, Inglis met new Essendon coach James Hird last Wednesday. Inglis revealed he would have jumped on the first flight bound for Melbourne had his deal with the Rabbitohs been terminally sunk. ”I was serious about a move,” Inglis said.
”He [Hird] was honest with me from the start. They put all their cards on the table, and so did I. In the end, I turned around and said, ‘If this all unfolds in my favour, I’ll be staying at South Sydney, but if it doesn’t, I’ll be on the first flight back down here playing with you guys.’ Before I walked out of the meeting, he said, ‘Hopefully everything turns out all right with you, but in our case, hopefully it doesn’t.’ I’m glad I finally went down and met with them. I got to know what they were all about.”
THE LURE OF SOUTHS
Inglis conceded it would be a ”challenge” living in Sydney, but said the chance to be a part of the Rabbitohs’ rich indigenous history was something he did not want to pass up. ”It’s a different lifestyle,” Inglis said. ”It’s a challenge living in Sydney, but this is a club where I can get full benefit of the indigenous culture. As long as I’ve been here, two months or so, all the boys have been great.”
And what of Russell Crowe, the Rabbitohs co-owner who has told everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Jay Leno about his star signing? ”He sent me a text saying, ‘Thanks for being patient,”’ Inglis said.
HIS WEIGHT
It has been claimed Inglis reported for Rabbitohs duty 118 kilograms or more, with former Brisbane fitness guru Dean Benton claiming he would not be able to reach his peak fitness for at least a year. Inglis said he weighed no more than he had any other previous off-season. ”Every year, it’s people wanting to make up stories and saying something about my weight,” Inglis said. ”I don’t think I’ve felt better. I don’t know David Benton or whatever his name is. I know he was at the Broncos. I don’t know what he’s got to do with it – I’ve never met the guy in my life. If I was him I’d just be quiet. I’ve got a point to prove throughout the season – I want to show them how fit I am.”
Hip and shoulder operations have set Inglis back in recent months; a shoulder problem forced him out of the Four Nations tournament, while the Rabbitohs’ medical staff also urged him to go under the knife to clear-up a nagging hip complaint. But he hoped to be running within the next fortnight.
”The shoulder’s coming along a bit slower than I would have liked, but it’s just one of those things that I can’t really rush, sort of like my hip,” he said. ”They said I’d be back for round one. I’ll try and push for the last trial match.”
THE STORM
During the stand-off over his contract, Inglis’s manager Allan Gainey told the Herald that Inglis was still owed $270,000 by the Storm. Inglis said he might be forced to take legal action over payments he said dated from 2008. ”It’s been a dogfight,” Inglis said. ”But it’s almost going up to a legal matter soon. People may say I’m greedy but I think it comes down to a principle. I’m entitled to get that payment, and they’re holding off. I was staying at [chief executive] Shane Richardson’s house for a while, and I had my wedding, which put a big dent in my budget. We’ve just got to keep on top of it. They still owe me a lot of money. I know what I need to get paid. It goes back to 2008. It’s a long time coming.
”I’m not going to forget about it. I never was going to forget about it. Brian Waldron [the disgraced former Storm chief executive] just kept saying, ‘We’ll put it off for next year.’ I’m just going to keep bugging them. This won’t go away until I see the money.”
THE BRONCOS
Inglis was comfortable with his handling of what has been described as a ”handshake deal” with Brisbane, saying the Broncos had put a deadline on him signing officially – one he could not meet.
”I was chatting with ‘Gee Gee’ [Brisbane’s general manager of football operations Andrew Gee] every day, just to see what direction it was going, and at one stage he gave me a deadline to sign on the bottom line,” Inglis said. ”I think that came from the directors up there. I had other options to weigh up, and I asked them to wait.”
It was also suggested Inglis had told Gee, as a reason he could not meet him: ”It’s raining and I don’t think the planes are flying.”
”That’s all it is, a suggestion,” Inglis said. ”It did not happen. I don’t know what idiot would come out and say the planes aren’t flying because it’s raining. I lived in Melbourne – you think planes don’t fly out of Melbourne? Rain, hail or shine, the planes still fly down there.”
THE FUTURE
Inglis said there was a ”lot of potential” at the Rabbitohs, and he believes it can lead to premiership success. ”Souths are just going to grow and grow,” he said. ”Hopefully in the next few years, I can see Souths holding up the trophy.”
And today, the first day of 2011, Inglis can finally move on; from the saga over the assault allegations against him, his unwitting involvement in the Andrew Johns-Timana Tahu race scandal, and Melbourne’s salary cap rorts. ”It’s one that you want to forget,” Inglis said. ”But it’s part of life. I’ve just got to move on. Hopefully it’ll be a turning point in my life.”
Source: www.smh.com.au
