Jack Bird reveals how an unexpected phone call led to his Brisbane move

BRONCOS centre Jack Bird has detailed the bizarre sliding doors moment which delivered him to Brisbane, including the unexpected phone call late year that gave the former Shark the opportunity to experience Brisbane’s love of league.

The former Shark will make his home debut this weekend. (Mark Evans/Getty Images)

BRONCOS centre Jack Bird has detailed the bizarre sliding doors moment which delivered him to Brisbane.

Bird will make his first appearance at Suncorp Stadium as a Bronco in the Easter Sunday local derby against the Gold Coast Titans.

His previous trips to The Cauldron have been in Cronulla Sharks and NSW Origin colours where Bird has been the enemy.

And if not for a chance phone call last year, Bird may never have inked a contract on Easter Thursday to reconnect with coach Wayne Bennett at the Broncos.

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Bird‘s relationship with Wayne Bennett was a lure. (AAP Image/Darren England)

Bird, 23, was hotly tipped to leave Cronulla for the rebuilding Knights after Newcastle made a massive play to lure him north of Sydney.

After meeting with Knights officials, Bird and manager David Riolo were returning to Sydney when Riolo made an unrelated phone call to Broncos recruitment boss Peter Nolan.

“It was kind of weird,” Bird said of the machinations.

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“My manager was on the phone to Pete Nolan. We were heading back from Newcastle. I went up to meet with Newcastle.

“The Broncos hadn’t even been mentioned to me. I said ‘who was that on the phone?’ and he said ‘the Broncos’.

“I said ‘I wouldn’t mind talking to them, they’re a good club’. Then it happened, and here I am.”

Bird is loving his time away from Sydney. (Peter Wallis)

During his tenure at St George-Illawarra in 2010, Bennett signed a teenage Bird to the Dragons’ junior squad before leaving the club for Newcastle in 2012 and returning to Brisbane in 2015.

They had a relationship from then and Bennett, a fan of the x-factor Bird possessed, gave Nolan the green light to pursue the approach.

Talks progressed and the Broncos tabled a four-year offer worth $3 million, believed to be less than Newcastle’s, which Bird accepted on Easter Thursday last year.

The former Shark will make his home debut this weekend. (Mark Evans/Getty Images)

“I always thought about the Broncos being a team I’d like to play for, but it wasn’t in my sights at the time until (Riolo) said he was talking to the Broncos,” Bird said.

“He was talking about something else. I don’t even know what. I said I wouldn’t mind talking to them and he rang them back up.

“It all turned out pretty weird. It was pretty much the same story as what happened at Cronulla. I wasn’t meant to go to Cronulla (in 2015) either.

“I was heading to another club to have a look and they were running late so I went and met with Cronulla and ended up there.

“It was a blessing in disguise in the end.”

While Bird was keen to play under a seven-time premiership winning coach in Bennett, he said the Broncos appealed to him for a number of reasons.

“Wayne is everything I expected and even more,” he said.

“It’s a one-team town and they are Broncos mad up here. We saw at the (Cowboys game) there was 40-odd thousand. The crowd was unbelievable and I don’t think you’d see that in Sydney.

“You have a look at the facilities and it’s a first-class club. There is a great roster, great coach. I don’t think many people would say no to that.

“It’s probably good for me to grow up a little bit and get away from my family and out of the big smoke in Sydney.

“That’s why I was hoping to come up here and grow into a man.”

Bird will start at left centre in his second match for the Broncos against the Titans where he will confront Tongan powerhouse Konrad Hurrell.