Seagulls legend Luke Dalziel-Don shares the story of how his NRL career was over before it began
While we are all starving for some rugby league, we take a look back at arguably one of the greatest captains in Queensland Cup history and how a lifelong dream was ripped away in seconds.
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IN THE rugby league coliseum known as Lang Park, where so much history had been made over past decades, one man was just minutes away from making his own history in 2012.
Luke Dalziel-Don was born and bred in the Brisbane bayside suburb of Wynnum and no one bled the green, red and white of the Wynnum Manly Seagulls more than him.
And almost eight years ago, as the Seagulls looked to complete an against-the-odds victory over fierce rivals the Redcliffe Dolphins in the Intrust Super Cup grand final, Dalziel-Don was close to etching his name in the history books as the first player to captain Wynnum Manly to back-to-back premierships.
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But what many people don’t know, is that the no-nonsense lock-forward was also close to a lifelong dream of playing for the Brisbane Broncos – the team he cheered for as his idol Allan Langer led the storeyed club to premiership after premiership in the 1990s.
Just weeks out from the ISC finals series that year, the then 29-year-old was pulled aside by his coach, and current North Queensland Cowboys coach, Paul Green telling him the NRL club wanted to sign him.
“Normally me and Greeny had a lot of conversations being the captain and the coach but he came in like a school principal and asked me to have a chat, it was a bit weird,” Dalziel-Don said.
“Then he told me the Broncs wanted to sign me and I was shocked, I thought that opportunity had passed me because I was 29.
“I thought he (Green) was taking the piss to be honest, I told him to piss off. But he said he was serious and that Andrew Gee wanted to have a chat and that sort of thing.
“To be honest, it was a bit of a distraction heading into the finals, it was playing on my mind a bit so I just went up to Greeny and said can we get it done because I don’t want it on my mind during finals.
“From there we had another chat with Gee Gee (Andrew Gee) and Hook (Broncos coach Anthony Griffin) about my role and what they saw in my potential and we got it done and signed.
“It wasn’t a big deal financially or anything, I just wanted the opportunity to play at that level.”
Dalziel-Don and the Seagulls then looked headed for an early exit in the finals series after a loss to Tweed Heads but bounced back to beat the Norths Devils in the elimination final.
In front of one of the biggest crowds ever seen at the famous Kougari Oval, Wynnum Manly earned revenge over Tweed Heads in the preliminary final to set up a meeting with minor premiers, the Redcliffe Dolphins in the grand final at Suncorp Stadium.
Although the Dolphins were the favourites, Wynnum Manly were the better team when it mattered and held a 16-4 lead with just 10 minutes left.
Back-to-back premierships and the start of an NRL career beckoned for Dalziel-Don, one of Wynnum Manly’s prodigal sons, but as he looked to seal the deal for his beloved Seagulls with a run towards the try line, disaster struck.
“I remember, I made a run towards the line and I should have passed it to Sean Loxley on the inside who would’ve scored and sealed the game but I stepped and I had some space and thought I could get there,” Dalziel-Don said.
“I was tackled just short of the line and I think it was Troy Giess, who had my legs from behind and didn’t really cannonball into me but fell onto my calf.
“Straight away I could feel something pop, something wasn’t right and I just laid there on the ground.
“The funny thing at the time was Redcliffe five-eighth Maurice Kennedy was just metres away from me and he had been snipered and hurt his knee as well.
“They stopped the game to get him off and my trainer came to me and did the quick testing you do when someone hurts their knee, she knew it wasn’t right and said I should come off so she can look at it and strap it.
“At the time, I told her where to go and she knew I wasn’t coming off.
“After that it was a changeover and I was in the defensive line and it didn’t feel too bad the first time but after that I tried to pivot and there was just no stability so I had to come off.
“It was the longest eight minutes of my life to be honest because when I came off, the trainer told me I did my ACL and then Redcliffe had scored to get them back in the game.”
The Seagulls were able to hold off Redcliffe’s attack in the final minutes and the Wynnum Manly players, staff and fans went bananas all over Suncorp Stadium to celebrate the club’s first back-to-back premierships.
But for Dalziel-Don, he couldn’t help but feel some pain as he knew his career would never be the same.
“It was bittersweet, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“I kind of wish our trainer hadn’t told me it was my ACL and that it was just my medial or something so I didn’t think about what it meant down the track.
“I was a Brosbane Broncos tragic growing up, I loved watching Alfie run around and so to sign an NRL contract with the team you grew up supporting was a dream come true.
“Then do suffer a significant knee injury, it was really tough.
“But it was still an incredible time, we had won another premiership and I didn’t have a game the next week or anything to get right for so we celebrated hard.”
Dalziel-Don praised the work of the Broncos following his injury after the club helped him with his surgery and rehabilitation despite not ever playing a game.
He spent the next preseason with Brisbane before returning to Wynnum Manly later in the preseason, where the club that he almost had spent his whole life at was struggling.
Green had departed to be an assistant coach with the Sydney Roosters and then his replacement in former New South Wales State of Origin coach Graham Murray had died after suffering a second heart attack.
“It was definitely a tough time, we had basically had two coaches go because Greeny left for Sydney late and then the unfortunate circumstances around Muzz,” Dalziel-Don said.
“I hadn’t spent much time with Muzz when he was coaching because I was with the Broncos but I was pretty close to him, especially when he was CEO for our club when we won in 2011.
“From there the club just tried to figure it out as best they could and gave Jon Buchanan a shot, which I thought was a good decision and JB did really well.
“I had come back five months to the day after surgery in round three against Mackay.
“Despite all the circumstances, we still did reasonably well that year and made the finals.”
The Seagulls were eliminated by the Ipswich Jets in the first week of the finals and the loss also resulted in the end of one of the best careers by a Seagull.
Dalziel-Don held the games record for the club, later to be overtaken by Matt Seamark, had won two premierships and had represented the Queensland residents.
“It was probably going to be my last year anyway even if I didn’t get injured, obviously that would have depended on how I went with the Broncos,” he said.
“I had done everything I had wanted to do. Had team success, individual success and all of that and I was able to go out on my terms.”
Now, more than six years after he stepped away from the game he loves, Dalziel-Don is still royalty at one of the most historic clubs in Queensland Rugby League but is also successful off the field.
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He runs his own financial advising business called WealthFit at Tingalpa but still thinks about what could have happened if he didn’t get injured in the 2012 grand final.
“I think if people say they don’t say ‘what if’ or have regrets, they’re liars, I think everyone has them,” Dalziel-Don.
“I’d be crazy not to look back and think about what could have happened in my career but I think more about my younger days, where I probably didn’t make the most out of my potential or take it serious enough.
“It would’ve been amazing to have an NRL career but I think if I did more earlier, I might’ve been able to reach that level.”
In a time where professional athletes are uncertain about their future during the crisis caused by the coronavirus, Dalziel-Don also said athletes should think more about their careers away from sport.
“Some people say you aren’t focused on being the best rugby league player or athlete when you are setting your future up with other things but I think that’s crap,” he said.
“My advice would always be to have something else set up, have another feather in your cap, because you never know what might happen.”
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