Souths snub leads to decider for rising Raider Emre Guler
Emre Guler wanted to play for South Sydney but his mum had other ideas. Her intuition has landed him a grand final appearance, and kebabs for his teammates for every bus ride home back to Canberra.
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They say mothers know best and Emre Guler’s mum knew best of all.
Canberra forward Guler, 21, never really wanted to be a Raider, the Mascot Jets junior had always wanted to play for South Sydney.
And Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire desperately wanted Guler to stay at Redfern back in 2016.
But Guler’s mum, Derya, had other ideas.
Derya encouraged her son to take a similar risk his father, Sahin, did almost 25 years ago when he left Adana, a city in southern Turkey, to start a new life in Australia.
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With rival clubs circling Guler, who at the time was considered one of the hottest prospects in the state, Derya told her son to take up Ricky Stuart’s offer and move to Canberra.
Her intuition has delivered a grand final appearance for Guler just 13 games into his NRL career.
“I had just turned 18 when I came to Canberra at the end of 2016. I had no idea about the place, the only thing I knew what it was a couple of hours away from home,” Guler told The Saturday Telegraph.
“There were a few clubs showing interest and I had a meeting with Michael Maguire, he was there (Souths) at the time, and Matt King and they wanted me to stay on board. I was keen to stay on board.
“But it was more my parents’ decision, they told me they did the same when they were my age.
“Dad moved halfway across the world and Mum moved out of home. They told me, ‘if you don’t do it now then it’s never going to happen ... to take risk is not a bad thing.’ So I trusted them.
“I took their advice and I came down to Canberra, they have 20-plus life years experience on me so I’m not going to brush what they say.”
But Derya won’t be able to witness the success she helped manifest and attend Sunday’s decider against the Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium.
Earlier this year she reluctantly booked a holiday to Turkey which coincided with the finals series, worried she would miss the grand final if the Raiders qualified.
As well as motherly instincts, it seems Derya might be a psychic.
“She’s missing out, out of everyone she is the one missing out. She had planned a holiday at the start of the year and we spoke about it. She actually said ‘what if you guys go all the way and get to the grand final?’” Guler said with a laugh.
“But I said to her ‘you’ve worked hard for so long, don’t put your life on hold. Don’t worry about what I’m doing’.”
Guler’s family own and run three Turkish kebab shops in Sydney’s southwest. In what has become an away game tradition, Sahin makes a delivery of kebabs to the team bus for the entire Raiders playing group to chow down on during the ride back to Canberra.
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On Monday, when plenty of sore heads will be guaranteed regardless of the result at ANZ Stadium, Sahin will make the most welcomed kebab delivery of the year.
Guler’s sister, Elem, is hoping they will be grand final victory kebabs.
“Hopefully it’s a win and everyone can really enjoy it. What we always deliver to them is the mixed plate, that’s your chicken, lamb and the adana on a bed of rice with salad and that’s the team favourite with boys,” she said.