Justin Hodges’ young son takes up rugby league, the story behind Walters’ ‘coach whisperer’
Justin Hodges’ young son goes try-crazy in the under-5s, the story behind Kevin Walters’ controversial “coach whisperer” and Tommy Raudonikis’ love for the Titans.
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Queensland Origin assistant Justin Hodges could not be a prouder man.
His four-year-old son Carter has taken up rugby league and has had an instant impact, scoring six tries in one game for the Albany Creek under-5s.
Carter is a chip off the old block in every sense with his father’s heights and features. Once he took the field, young Carter displayed the speed and step that made his old man a Broncos, Origin and Test legend.
“He’s loving the game,” Hodges told Blindside as he arrived at Maroons training. “He was so nervous before the game the other day he started crying, but once he calmed down and got out on the field he was having a ball.
“There’s no pressure from me. I don’t know how far he will go in the game, I just want him to enjoy whatever he does.”
Other young guns are coming through, with Darren Lockyer’s eldest son Sonny having dabbled in rugby league and Aussie Rules.
Lockyer Sr played Aussie Rules for Morningside before moving to Roma where he fell in love with rugby league.
THE COACH WHISPERER’S JOURNEY
THE controversial “coach whisperer” hired by Queensland coach Kevin Walters for this year’s Origin campaign has a fascinating backstory.
Walters’ secret weapon Bradley Charles Stubbs is now a mind coach who has worked with some of Australian sport’s leading coaches, including Wallabies’ Michael Cheika and Roosters mentor Trent Robinson.
In the wake of the Roosters’ premiership win last year, Stubbs wrote a personal account of his life story, revealing he twice escaped from a mental health facility after a car accident triggered a “breakdown”.
“My plan was to become a professional surfer. Then I was hit by a car. Career over. In a split second, my life’s work gone,” he told the Players’ Voice website.
“I had a mental breakdown. They locked me up in an acute psychiatric ward. Padded cell. Straight jacket. The lot.
“I spent four weeks and one day there. And then I broke out.
“About 15 months later, I had a relapse. They locked me away again.
“I spent six weeks there … before I broke out again.
“It was the 1980s and there was nothing like the understanding around mental health that there is today. Everyone judged me a freak. ‘This guy’s crazy.’ ‘He’s mad.’
“I had been labelled and doors were being closed on me everywhere I turned.”
Stubbs believes those experiences helped shape him to teach the “science of belief”.
“When I work with a client, I reprogram their subconscious mind from the day they were born to the age they are now,” he said.
“I teach them how to expect to win. Belief can become so strong that you can teach a coach, an athlete or a business person how to literally manifest and predict results.”
CATTLEDOG ALWAYS A TITAN
THIS is a photo that will warm the hearts of rugby league fans.
He may be a proud Blue but Tommy Raudonikis has a passion for another shade of blue — that of the Gold Coast Titans.
After the Titans pulled off a rousing defeat of Manly last week, Gold Coast chairman Dennis Watt was overjoyed to receive a picture message on his phone of Tommy celebrating wearing a Titans polo.
The photo summed up Tommy to a tee — smiling, thumb in the air, a copy of Best Bets in his hand, and a folded form guide on the table beside him.
Raudonikis is waging another battle with cancer, the third of his life, and Watt said every Titans stakeholder was behind the legendary NSW Origin halfback.
“Tommy always wears Titans gear for the entire day after a win,” Watt says. “It’s just one of those little things that makes you enjoy a victory even more.
“Even after a loss, he sends through a message about the need to stay strong and keep working hard, and that he believes in what we are doing down here.
“That he goes out of his way to not only think about the Titans with everything he has going on at the moment, but reaches out to celebrate the wins with us and to tell us to keep fighting after the losses shows you the quality of the bloke. He is a remarkable man.”
LISTEN! Matty, Kenty and Finchy dissect both Origin teams and a game looming as a classic, recount the best of Tommy Raudonikis and Matty recalls Mitchell Pearce’s sleepover at the Johns household.
MAROONS LOSE BELOVED FIGURE
THE Queensland Origin has lost the likes of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Johnathan Thurston in recent years but another Maroons legend is gone — their beloved bus driver.
Blindside can reveal Mick Willetts’ decorated 24-year career as the Queensland Origin team’s official driver is over after a gut-wrenching decision by the QRL to switch bus companies.
Nicknamed “Mullet”, Willetts drove the bus for a record 72 Origin games dating back to his daunting baptism behind the wheel for Paul Vautin’s heroic ‘Neville Nobodies’ squad which stunned NSW 3-0 in 1995.
But after the QRL’s decision to switch from Murray’s to Bellbaker, Willetts has been stripped of his beloved Maroons driver’s seat.
Willetts could write a book on what he has seen over the years but has vowed to go to the grave staying silent, once telling former AAP journalist Wayne Heming: “What happens on Mick’s bus, stays on Mick’s bus.”
Former Maroons skipper Darren Lockyer said Willetts was the heart and soul of the team, always doing the one-percenters. His only off night was the time Willetts parked the team bus … then forgot where he parked it, leaving the Maroons stranded as he frantically ran off looking for it.
JETS TO GIVE MAROONS A ROASTING
QUEENSLAND will ramp up preparations for Origin I by summoning the help of 2015 Intrust Super Cup premiers the Ipswich Jets.
Blindside can reveal the Maroons’ will take on the Jets this Sunday at Davies Park in what is traditionally the most important session of the week in Queensland’s build-up for an Origin game, including Game One this Wednesday.
Underlining their support for the Maroons, the Jets agreed to take part in the opposed session just 48 hours after playing an Intrust Super Cup game against the Cutters in Mackay.
“Our boys are pumped, they can’t wait,” said Ipswich co-coach Shane Walker.
“Kevvie (Walters, Queensland coach) gave Ben a call recently and asked if we could help out. We love the Queensland side, so it’s the least we could do.
“As people know, we play Jets football in a very different way, so we’ll have to modify some of our structures, but it will be an enjoyable hit out for the guys.”
Queensland’s 19th man Kurt Capewell played a key role in Ipswich’s epic 2015 grand final defeat of Townsville.
MBYE’S FEARS FOR MATE BARBA
THE recent video footage of Ben Barba being arrested by police in Mackay is one of the saddest sights for the rugby league fraternity. And no one is hurting more than Queensland’s latest debutant Moses Mbye.
When Mbye arrived at the Bulldogs as a 17-year-old in 2011, Barba took him under his wing. Barba went on to win the Dally M Medal the following year. At a time when Mbye is on an all-time high, Barba, sacked by the Cowboys in February, is at rock bottom.
“Benny Barba was a great role model for myself when I was at the Dogs,” Mbye said. “He was in similar situation to me. He left home to go across the border and join the Bulldogs. Unfortunately Benny has had a tough time recently but I just hope he is in a really good head space and doing well.”
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WHICH NRL player has been hounded by leading Queensland-based Islam powerbrokers to turn Muslim?
NSW Origin prop Payne Haas turned to Islam last year. Now another NRL star has been seen dining with Islamic leaders at some of Brisbane’s finest restaurants.
The player in question has no interest in joining Haas.
TOUGH LOSS FOR NRL
THE NRL loses one of its finest employees on Friday with the departure of communications chief Peter Grimshaw.
After six years in the role — the past three as a key advisor to NRL CEO Todd Greenberg — Grimshaw will explore new opportunities. He did a superb job as a strategist and will leave a huge hole in the NRL ranks.
“There’s no job like this anywhere else in the country,” Grimshaw said. “But the game is in great shape and it will be great to sit back and enjoy it without worrying about how to respond to the next drama.”
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THE Queensland Rugby League deserves plaudits for its annual Origin fan day which rolled into Charleville this year.
The people of Charleville treated the travelling media pack like VIPs and it rammed home the wonderful hospitality of Queensland’s bush folk.
A friendly face in the crowd was Lyn Capewell, the mother of Queensland’s 19th man Kurt, who hails from Charleville and relished his return home.
Originally published as Justin Hodges’ young son takes up rugby league, the story behind Walters’ ‘coach whisperer’
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