Former NRL star Andrew Dunemann on his new life in racing

Former rugby league star Andrew Dunemann had a well-travelled career but he’s now made the switch to racing and couldn’t be happier.

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Andrew Dunemann may have made his name on the sporting fields as a prodigious rugby league talent and later a respected senior coach, but these days he’s more comfortable with a sales catalogue in his hands or pitching a potential champion racehorse to prospective buyers.

Dunemann, who shared in the ownership of Group 1 winners Temple Of Boom and Spirit Of Boom, has his own bloodstock enterprises and also works closely with Premier trainer Tony Gollan, both in the sales department and beside him on the hugely popular “Final Gallop” weekly preview of stable runners.

After 25 years in rugby league as a player, coach and administrator, there’s no regrets in turning his back on the game in preference to plying his skills to thoroughbred racing.

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Former rugby league player Andrew Dunemann is loving life in the racing world. Picture: Annette Dew

“I was on the rugby league merry-go-round. That’s where I ended up,” Dunemann said.

“For the first time in my life, I’m trying to control my life and live where I want to live.”

From Harristown High in Toowoomba, Dunemann had the world at his feet after winning the Junior Dally M award as a 16-year-old in 1992.

With several clubs chasing his signature, he chose the Gold Coast, where the carrot was playing under ‘The King’ Wally Lewis and joining a roster that on paper gave him a chance of making his senior debut early.

“At that age you want everything to happen there and then. I had a lot of clubs I could have gone to (but) with hindsight, I might have made a better decision,” he said.

Still, he carved out a successful career, spending the majority of his senior years in the UK as part of the Leeds Rhinos, where he won a Super League title and was part of the team that beat Canterbury to win a World Club Challenge.

“It was at Elland Road, there was 37,500 people there and they were only supporting one team. It was unbelievable,” he said.

Dunemann got his start with the Gold Coast Seagulls.

He returned home for a final season, but injuries told him it was time to give it away.

“The last game I played, I got 12 stitches above my eye, did my medial and broke my hand,” he recalls.

“I was in getting stitched up … and the trainer came in and said you have to go back out (because Todd Carney had) been injured.

“I remember the first carry when I went back on … there was a gap 15 metres wide and I couldn’t even get myself through it. The next morning I told them I was happy for them to rip my contract up.”

He stumbled into coaching straight away, with circumstances meaning he coached the Raiders Reserves the next weekend.

Stints with Newcastle and then the Northern Pride followed before returning to Canberra, where he was considered a front runner for the head coaching role in the wake of David Furner’s sacking in 2013, but was eventually overlooked as Ricky Stuart secured the nod.

He then worked four-years as a consultant to the NRL, where he spent a lot of time with the referees.

Dunemann was interim coach at Canberra in 2103.

“I used to bag referees myself, but working with them, you see what they go through. They are trying to create perfection in an imperfect world,” he said.

Dunemann has little to nothing to do with football these days, preferring to concentrate his attention on racing.

“For a long time it was the only thing I ever knew, but I don’t miss it now,” he said.

Dunemann now runs BRT Bloodstock, which comprises some 49 horses, which are a mixture of foals, yearlings, racehorses and broodmares.

Recently he also brought together a group of seven entities to start Boutique Thoroughbreds, which has set out to buy top class broodmares and breed yearlings that will compete at the top end of the market at major Australian sales.

Interestingly, Dunemann didn’t cross paths with Gollan until 1999, despite the pair both growing up in Toowoomba.

Andrew Dunemann playing for Leeds Rhinos. Picture: Getty Images

He raced a horse early doors with Gollan’s father Daryl, but the relationship was solidified with the two Boom horses.

Recently, Gollan brought Dunemann onto the team to help sell the big number of yearlings he buys.

“I still have some syndication horses (of my own), but I’m doing Tony’s this year. It’s a big job, because he’s bought a lot of horses. It’s not easy, but he has a really good database,” he said.

Then there’s The Final Gallop, which was pitched to Gollan by Dunemann and his business partner Stephen Lock.

“We wanted to do it and thought it would be good for Tony.” Dunemann said.

“We pitched it to him and it’s just been unbelievable how the following has built up.

“There’s so many people that say they can’t wait for it to come out on a Thursday night.”