Canterbury winger Nick Meaney reveals his family history in rugby league folklore
Canterbury winger Nick Meaney spent the first 13 years of his life with little idea of his grandfather’s previous life. Then, at his Pop’s funeral, Tommy Raudonikis walked up with a schooner …
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Nick Meaney got to know his grandfather best the day they buried him.
“Because Pop," he shrugs, "never really said anything about playing footy.”
But that day of his funeral in Ballina?
Well, good luck finding an old bloke all black suit and busted nose who didn't have a yarn for this grieving young schoolboy.
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One after another at the wake, and with schooners clutched tight in giant hands, Kangaroos, Blues, even Immortals leaned in to tell the 13-year-old about what type of man not only played prop in the 1960s, but survived almost 200 games.
For this is what Denis Meaney did.
Over 10 years from 1957, and during rugby league's most ruthless of eras, not only starring in the forward packs of both Manly and Western Suburbs, but making three grand finals alongside the likes of Arthur Summons, Jack Gibson, Rex Mossop and Noel Kelly.
Which over several hours, young Meaney had explained to him. In detail so clear, the blood ran bright red.
"Which was eight years ago now," the Canterbury winger recalls. "But still, I can clearly remember talking to legends like Arthur Beetson, Tommy Raudonikis, there was a heap of them.
"And they were all telling me how when Pop, who was a massive man, stood 6'4'', turned it on out there on the field … absolute wrecking ball."
Yet when the warfare was done?
"Gentle giant," Meaney says, smile widening. "That was the phrase so many of them used.
"As a kid growing up in Ballina, I spent a lot of time with Pop but, because he was so humble, we never talked footy at all. He loved coming to watch us kids play.
"And obviously I knew he'd been involved because my brother and I, we'd run around his house in the old Magpies jerseys he'd kept.
"But that day of his funeral, listening to Pop being talked up as both a footballer and man … it's cool to know that's the story I'm continuing."
Which is now some yarn itself.
Understanding that while Meaney is still only 21, and boasting the type of new car smell that comes with just 25 NRL appearances, this livewire Canterbury No. 2 is suddenly part of an outfit not only gunning for five straight wins against North Queensland in Thursday Night Football, but — gasp — a shock playoff appearance.
Unthinkable back in June, when the Bulldogs couldn't beat time on a tambourine, the Belmore boys arrive in Townsville looking to continue a run that hasn't only revived their September hopes, or the career of coach Dean Pay, but those age old headlines about Dogs of War.
And among it all, Meaney.
This product of 1960s grit who, for the past eight years, has been driven by the memory of his grandfather.
That, and a small medallion which, since his 18th birthday, has sat in the bedside drawer of whichever house his rising career has taken him.
Marking his grandfather's first grade debut with Wests, the medal means so much to Meaney he cried the day Nan gifted it to him.
"Because with Pop and I," he says, "these first grade games continue our connection".
Continue more than that, too.
For just as Denis Meaney was tough back when the phrase meant everything, so his grandson understands more than a little about persistence and grit.
Like when straight out of high school, and signed by the Newcastle Knights, this kid suffered bouts of homesickness so bad he wanted out.
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Or within two years of that, and as part of a struggling NSW Cup side, news emerged that Kalyn Ponga, a kid around the same age, but with even more promise, was arriving to take the Knights No.1 jersey he coveted. And so it continued.
Last year, Meaney finally making his NRL debut — but for a team that finished 11th.
Just as this year he switched to the Bulldogs, and that fullback jersey chased since high school, only to then watch the club chase down, and sign, Penrith's Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
A decision which saw Meaney punted out of position, and onto the wing.
"And at first, having already played 10 games, that was really tough," he concedes. "But like anything in life, you can choose to focus on either the negatives or positives."
And so, Meaney fights.
Displaying those same traits forged at 16, when thrown into a first grade debut with Ballina Seagulls. Which sounds great, sure. But at 70kg?
"Oh, I got belted," Meaney laughs. "Anyone who knows bush footy will tell you it's tough and, early on, I copped a lot of cheap shots.
"And initially, that shocked me. But it definitely made me tougher, more experienced."
Earned him consecutive first grade premierships with Ballina, too. Still, those aren't the medallions he keeps in his bedside drawer.
No, what drives him even now is the memory of Pop.
"And in the last couple of years, I've moved around a fair bit but that medallion, I like to make sure it's always stayed close. Keep it near me.
"Because for a long time, it was my motivation. Knowing that Pop was the first person in our family to play first grade and, potentially, I was going to be the next, that drove me to keep going."
Better, it's now put an extra chunk of silverware into that same bedside drawer.
"When I debuted for Canterbury, they presented me with a similar medallion," Meaney explains. Even came wrapped in the same sort of paper.
"They're so similar, it's really cool. And who knows? Hopefully one day I'll be passing it on to a grandchild of my own."
Originally published as Canterbury winger Nick Meaney reveals his family history in rugby league folklore
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