NRL 2020: Penrith Panthers’ Liam Martin driven by private pain
Panthers young gun Liam Martin has been inspired by his late brother’s work ethic to power his rise on and off field, writes NICK WALSHAW.
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Around Temora tonight, they will remember the fella famous for falling down a manhole.
Or when trying to start a bonfire, burning his face.
A keen fisherman who toppled so many times into rivers and creeks, he would have to buy two, even three new mobiles every year.
But that was Jarred Martin.
A rugged bush footballer who, while hardly the most athletic of his mates, held so strongly to the belief that hard work could beat talent, he tattooed those very words onto his wrist.
Then, went and lived them. Every day.
Like the afternoon when labouring on a worksite, he fell several metres down a manhole, severely lacerating his hand.
Yet days later, Jarred played, although only after keeping the heavily-stitched wound hidden from coaches.
Sure, he never once made a Group 9 representative team.
But tough?
Yeah, the kid was that. Relentless, too.
Which is why, after training alone through more hours than anyone could know, this country boy took himself down to open trials for the Canberra under-20s and then, to the shock of everyone, got in.
Better, he let his hair grow wild. Grew a bushranger beard, too. All up, it was the perfect look for a teenager who, coming off the interchange bench, played the workaholic toiler role among future stars like Josh Papalii, Paul Vaughan, Jack Wighton and Shannon Boyd.
“But sometimes,” his coach Dave Hamilton would tell the Raiders website that same year, “I wish I had a team of Jarreds. If everyone gave me the effort he gives, we wouldn’t lose a game.”
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Which again, is what the people of Temora, in the NSW Riverina, will remember this evening.
Unmissable as it will be in Thursday Night Football.
The bush tough will be revived every time his little brother carts the ball.
“Which people have told me, yeah,” says Liam Martin, the 23-year-old Penrith forward who was himself too small, never made a rep team and now often writes ‘hard work beats talent’ on his strapping tape.
“I’ve actually heard quite a bit that people see Jarred in the way I play.
“And for me, that’s awesome. I love it.”
He draws strength from the comparison, too.
Martin, still only 20 games into his NRL career, explained for League Central how his entire playing style is based on keeping alive his brother’s memory.
Officially, it has now been six years since Jarred – “my best mate and idol” — tragically took his own life.
The incident rocked not only the Martin family, or tight-knit Temora community, but so many others touched by the mate who earned everything the hardest of ways.
“Growing up, nobody rated Jarred as a footballer,” recalls Liam, the youngest of five children raised by mum Maxine on a 1500-acre wheat and canola farm.
“He was a bigger kid. A fatty really.
“Definitely never made any rep sides.”
Worse, the bloke was more than a little injury prone.
“Shocking,” Liam continues, breaking now into a laugh. “Would’ve had over 100 stitches, easily.
“Jarred was also a keen fisherman but fell into the river so often, he would honestly lose two or three phones every year.
“Another time, he burned his face throwing petrol on a fire.
“And even when he fell down that manhole, he never told anyone. Just got six or seven stitches in his hand then went out and played for the Raiders.”
Yet for some injuries, even a fella like Jarred Martin cannot grind through.
Despite busting his arse for the Canberra under-20s, the popular bookend was eventually demoted back to Mounties, where he then twice busted that acronym feared by athletes everywhere — ACL.
So for two years, Jarred watched from the sidelines. The absence effectively ended his NRL dream.
“Which really hurt him,” Liam concedes. “Jarred worked so hard, sacrificed so much to get where he did … only to be left feeling like it was all for nothing.”
And exactly how much of that was in the tragedy of January 2, 2014, Martin cannot say.
“But of all the days in my life,” he says, “that’s the one I remember clearest.”
Preparing to go into Year 12, the young Panther was relaxing at the home of his old man, Philip, when the phone rang.
“It was mum,” he says.
Then within minutes, an uncle arrived at the door.
With family quickly surrounding the heartbroken teenager who would grieve for days, weeks and eventually months for the mate who not so much earlier had taken him camping on bush trails around Batemans Bay.
“So for me, it was just so bloody hard,” Martin says, voice softening. “Just so … um … yeah … nothing felt real for six months.”
Or almost nothing.
“Thankfully, I had family — especially mum,” he continues, referencing the woman who drives the 900km round trip each week to watch her boy play.
Elsewhere, Martin immersed himself into rugby league too. That same game Jarred not only introduced him to aged four, or then educated him in, but regularly schooled him at in the backyard.
“He was six years older and 50kg heavier,” Martin laughs. “So he absolutely smashed me.”
In the months after his brother’s passing, Liam also watched, repeatedly, an old DVD of big brother‘s footballing highlights at Canberra.
Same as he read, then read again, that Raiders article in which Jared had been talked up for his toughness, persistence and grit — with coach Hamilton revealing how “pain doesn’t bother him … he would rather play through it than let his teammates down”.
So to keep his brother’s memory alive, Martin now lives the same way.
On the field, at training, everywhere.
Like the time, shortly after signing for SG Ball, when the young country recruit heard how the squad, in a few weeks, would be doing a training drill called Knapsack Bridge.
So to prepare, Martin spent every afternoon running around his family’s farm — carrying a backpack filled heavy with bricks.
“Although it turned out Knapsack Bridge was just the place we trained at,” he laughs.
“It had nothing to do with carrying stuff on our backs.”
Still, know this is what exists inside the Panthers’ No.12. His heartbeat.
“Whenever it gets tough in games, I’ll think of Jarred too,” he says.
“Think of how my brother would be spraying me if I were being lazy, out of position, whatever. He definitely pushes me still.”
As for a favourite memory?
“I remember this one game, Jarred returned a kick-off and got smashed,” little brother says, smile widening at the memory. “Absolutely folded. But I can still see him next carry, charging again. Running as hard as he did the first time, too. That’s what I remember.”
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SEVEN THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT LIAM MARTIN
1. Lives in a granny flat near Panthers Academy. “It’s not flash but it’s cheap. Only $170 per week which at least means I’m saving some money.”
2. Started a Bachelor of Science degree but recently deferred. Scored an HSC ATAR of 89.95. “Which wasn’t too bad, I guess. A few mates reckon I’m the smartest dumb bloke you could meet.”
3. Growing up, idolised Penrith hitmen Adam Docker and Nigel Plum. “But as a junior, I was fairly ordinary. Used to play hooker only because I was small and could tackle a bit.”
4. Cousin of NSW Origin great Trent Barrett, who is also now a Panthers assistant coach. “As a kid I watched Trent play all the time and actually went for St George Illawarra because he played there. It was great to have him to look up to.”
5. Biggest support is mum Maxine, who each week drives a 900km round trip from the family’s farm for all his games. She also flew to Perth at the start of this year to watch him in the NRL Nines.
6. Gets his competitive streak from mum. “I’ve heard stories about when she used to play basketball socially. (Laughs) Apparently, one time things got so heated between mum and her own sister they spent four months not speaking to each other.”
7. Signed for Penrith’s SG Ball after doing work experience with Royce Simmons’ brother. “During my week in Sydney I got introduced to (Panthers recruitment officer) Jim Jones who asked if I wanted a trial. It was really lucky.”