St George Illawarra coach Steve Price takes on one of Australia's most gruelling events
THE weekly footy season pressure and demands are nothing compared to what St George Illawarra Dragons coach Steve Price is facing this weekend.
THE weekly footy season pressure and demands are nothing compared to what St George Illawarra Dragons coach Steve Price is facing this weekend.
Price is taking on one of Australia's most gruelling sporting events - the Bridge to Bridge water ski classic.
It's a punishing 112 kilometres from Broken Bay on the Hawkesbury to Windsor in what has now become an internationally renowned event.
He'll be behind a boat that travels at more than 120kph and turns the water into concrete if a skier happens to come off.
Price is doing it for the personal challenge and to raise money for charity.
He is raffling a game-day experience at the Dragons-Rabbitiohs Charity Shield game where the winner gets to watch the game from his coaching box.
Money raised will go to the family of slain police officer Bryce Anderson and Pink Fin, an organisation that supports breast cancer.
The Dragons coach is leaving nothing to chance.
He has called in two of Australia's most accomplish water skiers Danny Cropper and Lauryn Eagle to get professional advice.
He has spent weeks in the gym, preparing his body for the bumps, bruises, stress and strain that will be felt in every muscle.
"I started doing 80km then got up to 110 just to get the k's in the legs," he said.
"It will be tough but at the seme time something we've never experienced before."
Price has always been a recreational skier from growing up in a family that loved the water.
But he has never taken on anything like this.
His partner in the race is former Dragons player Reece Simmonds behind a boat donated by Windsor businessman Dave Coaldrake.
"This is just something I've always wanted to have a go at," he said.
"People say it's the toughest event of its type in the world.
"I can vouch for that just from the training it takes to get prepared."
Next week it's back to the fulltime job of getting the Dragons into shape for the 2014 NRL season.
Surely a ski race couldn't be any tougher than that.
Watch Maroons legend’s shock confession: ‘I could have died’
As Queensland’s most storied band of misfits gathered to celebrate their famous Origin whitewash in 1995, captain Trevor Gillmeister revealed he risked death if he took the field in Game III - he did anyway.
Diving crackdown, bombshell sin bin trial: NRL’s memo to clubs
The NRL will launch a crackdown on several controversial areas of the game, with the governing body warning players referees and the Bunker won’t tolerate players ‘diving’. See the full list of areas under the microscope.