NRL 2020 Lockdown: A Day In Isolation with Eddie Blacker
With all Australian sport now effectively in lockdown, a Dragons young gun has made a mad dash to keep his finances alive. Which isn’t how this year was supposed to go.
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Eddie Blacker, from today, starts installing fire sprinklers around Brisbane.
Which isn’t how this year was supposed to go.
No, only a fortnight back, this hulking St George Illawarra rookie was setting gym records, impressing coach Paul McGregor and increasingly firming for his NRL debut.
But now?
“I’m headed back to Brissie,” Blacker told us Monday morning, during what would be one of several roadside stops on his 1000km haul north.
“Before signing with the Dragons, I had an apprenticeship fitting fire sprinklers.
“So I’m headed back home to get on the tools again.
“I’m just grateful my old boss will have me back.”
Which isn’t to say this NRL wannabe is crying poor.
Nor complaining about the RLPA deal that will see him paid for at least the next two months.
“But why sit around waiting to see what happens after that?” he asked.
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“I know they’re trying to bring the game back, and quickly. But until they do, I need to keep putting money in the bank.”
Despite Blacker being an NRL Next Big Thing in every sense – he stands 195cm and weighs 116kg – the young Dragon has from today joined a growing list of players headed back into the workforce for however long the code is shut down.
Which is tough news for fellow Dragon Euan Aitken.
That rugged right centre who, since the COVID-19 pandemic first broke, has had a live-in training partner, with Blacker, 20, bunking down in the spare room of his Wollongong home.
“Given all the uncertainty with our contracts, Eddie moved in with me,” Aitken said.
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“I think it’s important to recognise that there are some guys in the NRL who live pay cheque to pay cheque, which is why they’re now finding different ways to ensure the cash keeps coming in.”
After receiving government permission to cross the Queensland border, which remains closed, Blacker is now living in Brisbane with his old man.
However the rising Dragons forward admits he is already missing his training workouts alongside Aitken, who when not challenging him at running drills at the park was pushing to win games of darts, poker, even Call of Duty.
The pair have also spent the past fortnight competing in Aitken’s garage gym, which included, for a short time, using house bricks as a makeshift rack for bench press.
“Although it wasn’t really, ahh, stable,” the centre laughed. “So now there’s nowhere to rest the bar for bench press.
“No squat rack either.
“Which is challenging when only a few weeks back, at the end of pre-season, you had players setting PBs in the gym.”
Like Blacker, who recorded a 310kg box squat.
“But we don’t have anything like what is required for that here,” Aitken conceded. “So most of our workouts have been bar lifts from the floor.”
And as for Blacker’s new gig installing fire sprinklers.
“It’s good to be banking some money,” he said. “But I’m only here until the lockdown is over.
“As soon as they tell me everything is back on, I’m straight into my car and driving back to Wollongong.”
TAMOU’S SECRET BUSH SURVIVAL PLAN
James Tamou headed bush a few days back with the rear end of his Hyundai dragging.
That little car packed so tight, the Penrith captain recounts, “every seat was down bar mine”.
Which makes sense.
Especially when you understand this hulking Panthers mainstay wasn’t simply escaping Sydney for however long this COVID-19 pandemic lasts, but taking with him everything required for an NRL lockdown.
Think dumbbells, weight plates, Olympic barbell, medicine ball, even a rower.
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Which was a squeeze, sure.
“And three long hours,” he said of the drive south.
But with the Panthers Academy now locked down for weeks, and possibly months, Tamou has shifted himself, wife Brittney and their four young boys to the in-laws’ property near Braidwood.
Located in the Southern Tablelands, the 700-acre farm boasts cows, sheep, bulls, horses… and now one makeshift training facility for this 115kg enforcer in the last year of his NRL deal.
Given the Tamou clan spend most summers at said bush hideaway, the former NSW and Australian forward already has a large squat rack onsite, to assist with holiday workouts.
Add this to the gym gear he lifted from Panthers HQ, and suddenly the farm has been overhauled into a perfect workout zone for a Panthers skipper who now joins other off-contract favourites like Cameron Smith, Kieran Foran, James Graham and the Morris twins.
Quizzed on training while in isolation with four sons aged under seven, Tamou laughed: “Right now, I’m trying to train around noon, when at least a couple of my boys are asleep.
“And having that time for dad … yeah, I think without it my head might fall off.
“But that’s also a big part of why we’ve come to the farm. During isolation, Brittney and I wanted the boys to have some space to run around and play.”
But as for how Tamou replicates an NRL training regimen on the farm, especially if this lockdown stretches from weeks into months?
“Good question,” he said. “In the past few days, I’ve been going online for CrossFit workouts.
“Given there aren’t the facilities to lift as heavy as normal, it’s about moving and getting the heartrate up.
“That’s most important thing at this stage, to be doing something.”
Also of importance to Tamou is the fact that, aged 31, and after 11 straight seasons of first grade, he is now in the final year of his Panthers deal.
“Which I’ve actually thought about a lot,” he explained.
“But after some conversations with my wife and others, I’ve decided to keep playing.
“I know that when you hit your 30s, it’s up there in NRL years. But I want to play on.
“So that’s now my challenge during lockdown.
“I need to keep training hard so that eventually, when this ends, I’ll not only be ready for Penrith, but also playing well enough to earn myself another contract.
“So no matter what happens in coming weeks, the onus is on me to be ready.”
HAYDEN KNOWLES – THE TELEGRAPH’S ISOLATION COACH
In three years with the Penrith Panthers, Jimmy Tamou has missed just one game through injury.
One game.
Last year, the man who now captains our side missed none.
Even aged 31, and in the middle of the world’s toughest sporting competition.
Which doesn’t happen by luck.
Instead, Jimmy understands that in rugby league, the little things aren’t so little.
Stretching, rehabilitation, nutrition, sleep — everything matters.
Same deal, looking after his mates.
I remember one particular City Origin camp where, at the request of coach Brad Fittler, I’d taken our young halfback Nathan Cleary aside for some sparring at Woolloomooloo PCYC — just to see how he would handle it.
But Jimmy, he went into protection mode.
Not only asking to also come in on the session, but then going to town on me.
I love this about Jimmy.
The way he looks out for others.
He’s actually a great example for everyone during this current climate because we all have people relying on us.
Family, housemates, friends; people who need us to find routine, stay active and remain positive.
Again, all those little things that have kept Jimmy Tamou on the field for three years.
Originally published as NRL 2020 Lockdown: A Day In Isolation with Eddie Blacker
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