Paul Gallen vs Lucas Browne: Browne opens up on brief NRL stint with Parramatta Eels
Ahead of his showdown with Paul Gallen, Lucas Browne has revealed his rugby league past and why he gave it up for boxing.
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Lucas Browne can still remember, as a schoolboy, signing up to trial for Parramatta’s Harold Matthews side.
“I’d never played rugby league,” he recalls.
But that didn’t matter, right?
Just grab a form like every other kid.
“Although one of the things it asked for was ‘current club’,” Browne continues, smile widening.
“But I didn’t have one.
“That’s why I just wrote soccer.”
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Better though, was what came next.
“Yeah, made the team,” he laughs.
“Went through SG Ball too.
“But then when Jersey Flegg came around, I got kicked out of home, needed a job … things sort of went south for a while”.
Long before he would become the first Australian heavyweight to win a world boxing title, Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne was a blockbusting winger — yes, a No.5 — with the Parramatta Eels.
At the time, Nathan Hindmarsh and Eric Grothe jnr were teammates.
While Nathan Cayless, he lived over the back fence at Granville.
With Big Daddy this week even meeting up with the guy who has effectively taken his place, current Parramatta flanker Blake Ferguson, for an unlikely photo shoot at Bankwest Stadium.
Set to face NSW Origin great Paul Gallen on Wednesday night in Wollongong, Browne also boasts his own history in the Greatest Game of All — albeit a brief and bloodied one.
“Rugby league is actually how I started boxing, or fighting,” Browne reveals
“After being away from the game for a while, I was sitting there one night watching the footy on TV thinking ‘you know what, I could’ve done more’.
“So I went and played first grade with St Marys.
“But it was just one year.”
Why?
“I threw too many punches,” he laughs. “Got sent off a lot.
“But there was always someone from the opposition going for stitches too so that was all right.”
So that’s why you switched?
“Yeah, I got too big and too violent for footy,” he shrugs. “So fighting was the natural progression.”
None of which impresses Gallen however.
Asked about Browne this week, the Cronulla favourite slammed his rival as a “a cat”.
“I don’t know him personally,” the Blues great shrugged.
“But I think once you get past that facade of the 6‘5’’, 120kg tattooed monster, he’s a cat.
“Deep down, that’s what he is.
“And I don’t know what he does after I beat him Wednesday night.
“I really don’t.
“I’m going to finish Lucas Browne. There will be nothing left for him after this.”
To which Browne says what?
“I’m a cat? How does he get to that?” he asked. “I can only tell you that I’ve got the height, the reach, the weight, the looks … I’ve got everything.”
Better, Browne insists he still has the power to do what UFC legend Mark Hunt couldn’t against Gallen last start, finish him within the distance.
“I’ll stop Paul, yes,” the old Eel said.
“And that needs to happen.
“I don’t want to be going to the judges. I don’t like decisions.
“And if Gallen is laying on his back, there’s no questions about it … I win.”
GAL AND BROWNE GO TO WAR OVER GOATS, PHANTOM KOS
Lucas Browne has strenuously denied whispers suggesting he was dropped in a recent Sydney sparring session, and on the same day Paul Gallen mocked his claims of being Australia’s heavyweight GOAT.
Instead of celebrating his 42nd birthday on Wednesday, Browne was forced to hit back at claims the tattooed Granville product was embarrassingly sent to the canvas, and perhaps even knocked momentarily unconscious, in preparation for next Wednesday’s showdown at Wollongong Entertainment Centre.
Gallen also took his own personal shot at Australia’s first heavyweight champion, with the NSW Origin great walking a pet goat into his open media session at Bondi Boxing Club — an obvious dig at Browne’s recent claims of being the division’s Aussie GOAT.
Quizzed by News Corp on his barnyard prop, Gallen fired: “Who names themselves the GOAT?
“It’s insane.
“Your peers name you the GOAT, or fans of the sport name you the GOAT.
“But when you talk to those same people about Lucas Browne, that phrase never comes up.
“So instead, he’s gone and done it himself.
“And, look, the guy has done some good things in boxing. Done something no other Australian has.
“There’s no disrespecting that.
“But to label yourself the GOAT … it’s laughable.”
While Browne was not at the media event where Gallen also smashed a birthday cake bearing his likeness, the fighter dubbed ‘Big Daddy’ was furious when, hours later, News Corp revealed it had been suggested, and by more than one in attendance, that he had been dropped in sparring.
But as for it being true?
“For this fight? F..., no,” Brown said.
“The only time that’s ever happened to me was in 2018, before I fought (British heavyweight) Dillian Whyte. I went over to the UK and was sparring Derek Chisora, who rocked me.
“And as you could tell by the actual fight, I wasn’t there. Physically and mentally I wasn’t there.
“But that’s the only time I’ve been dropped (in sparring).”
Fighting Whyte inside London’s O2 Arena, Brown was kayoed in the sixth round.
That loss remains one of only two the Australian has suffered in 31 professional appearances, with Browne also iced by another Brit, David Allen, at the same venue a year later.
Yet for all the rounds he has sparred in preparation for Gallen, the former WBA champ insists nothing similar has happened.
In fact, the now Perth-based heavyweight stressed every one of his sparring sessions had been videoed, in full, without incident.
“Before I flew over here from Western Australia, I sparred six days straight,” Browne said.
“And the last two days, they were doubles.
“So that was eight sessions in total — and not once was there a problem.
“Then since arriving in Sydney, I’ve had another three sparring sessions. And for the last of those I had five big Islanders go at me for a round each.
“So if anything, sparring has been great.”
Already this week, Australian boxing great Jeff Fenech has suggested there is enough punching power in Browne, who boasts 25 knockouts from 29 wins, to finish Gallen within a round next Wednesday in Wollongong.
However, the Hall of Famer added that the heavyweight, who he previously trained, would need to bring the same attitude that won him the WBA (Regular) world title against Ruslan Chagaev in 2016.
Elsewhere, Gallen continued his public push for both fighters to be drug tested before and after the bout, while also blasting reports, later confirmed by Browne, that his rival had sparred for six days straight.
“He’s s******g himself,” Gallen said.
“He’s now trying to rush because he hasn’t done the work early on.
“But you can’t spar six days in a row.
“That’s not good for your body, and it’s not good for your head.”
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