The Chief, the rowing machine, and the ambulance: Matty Johns reveals legendary Malcolm Reilly tales
As the man who delivered Newcastle its first premiership battles cancer with the same ferociousness he played and coached, MATTY JOHNS dives into the obsessiveness of his close friend and mentor.
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It was 1998 in Newcastle and word spread to all the players that the coach had suffered either a heart attack or a stroke after collapsing in the gym.
Malcolm Reilly arrived at the Knights and set standards none of his players thought possible.
Malcolm believed in the magic of sweat.
Gone was the gentle jog along Nobbys Beach, replaced by 90-minute torture sessions at Newcastle Racecourse.
We ran Golden Slippers, Cox Plates and Melbourne Cups most days.
Players pushed themselves to new levels, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy the new coach.
In fact, he wrote personal letters to each player expressing his disappointment at what he had walked into.
This was life under the great Malcolm Reilly.
CALL THE AMBULANCE, MAL’S COLLAPSED
Malcolm rarely relaxed, he was obsessed with challenging himself.
That day at the gym, an ambulance was called after Malcolm rolled off a rowing machine and lay on the floor, passed out.
What happened that morning was our captain, Paul Harragon, had broken the club record for the fastest 3km on the much-despised rowing machine.
Not many men could push themselves like the Chief.
Word reached Malcolm about the skipper’s feats and later that day he arrived at the gym, grabbed our trainer as a witness, took his place on the rowing machine and set about trying to break the freshly set record.
Our trainer told us he’d never seen anyone push themselves like Malcolm did that day, as he beat the 3km time by a wee two seconds.
Onlookers in the gym were horrified, certain the coach was in the midst of a heart attack as he lay motionless on the ground.
Tests showed that wasn’t the case but it must’ve been fast approaching as Malcolm had suffered from extreme exhaustion and was told by the doctor that, at his age, under no circumstances was he to push himself that hard again.
He broke his own record the following week.
THE SHOCK CANCER DIAGNOSIS
This week, many of us were shocked by the news that Malcolm has been diagnosed with cancer.
My first thought was that someone should let cancer know it has picked a fight with the wrong bloke.
It reminds me of a conversation I had with Parramatta Eels legend Ray Price several years back when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Price had just finished his chemotherapy session and was straight back on the building site.
“Pricey, how you going mate”?
“Matty, I’m great mate. This is exactly the challenge I’ve been waiting for.”
That’s how men like Ray Price and Malcolm Reilly roll.
HE SWAM LIKE AN ANVIL ... AND BEAT US ALL
Malcolm is a very easy man to admire.
One morning, we gathered at a local pool for rehab after a previous night’s game.
One of the players threw out a challenge.
$100 to the first person to swim the length of the pool underwater.
Everyone had a crack, nobody could make the 50 metres.
Malcolm stepped forward.
“Matty, lend me your swimmers, I’ll do this,” he said.
We laughed. Mal swam like an anvil.
He went to the shallow end, submerged himself and set off: no technique, a very, very slow dog paddle.
It took Malcolm close to a minute to hit the 25-metre mark and the bookies had him at 300-1.
But he kept going, barely moving forward, his face visibly red and starting to drift blue.
20 metres to go, 15, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 … and he made it.
We were in disbelief
He was too exhausted to get himself out of the pool, but not too exhausted to snatch the $100 poolside.
Don’t get between a Yorkshireman and his money.
ARM WRESTLE THAT COST KNIGHTS A SIGNING
Even when enjoying a casual beer, Malcolm was always on the lookout for some way of testing himself and one of his favourites was a good old-fashioned arm wrestle.
Among the rugby league community at that time, Mal’s prowess as an arm wrestler and his undefeated status was legendary.
In 1995, while on tour in England, a group of us Knights travelled to Malcolm’s village in Yorkshire to enjoy a beer with him at the historic Chequers Inn pub in Ledsham.
Joining us was a Castleford player whom Malcolm was on the brink of signing to the Knights.
He was a giant and had arms like thighs, bursting out of his tight, black shirt.
He was a tremendous bloke until the sixth pint hit his liver and he suddenly started getting rather chirpy.
Mal decided to test his mettle.
“Are you gonna give your little brother his shirt back?” he asked him.
The big Castleford lad bristled.
“Let’s put those big arms to good use and see if you can beat an old man at an arm wrestle.”
The player laughed and suggested they should put 50 quid on it.
All the pub gathered, having witnessed this scene many times before.
The two men locked arms and in a blink of an eye Malcolm had the player’s arm flat on the table
Clearly embarrassed the player handed over his 50.
“Hang on a second,” Malcolm said. “It’s best of five.”
The player sat back down, but he was already beaten.
Bang, bang — Malcolm three, big Castleford lad 0.
Mal won the 50, but lost the player, who decided then and there he didn’t have the stomach for the Malcolm Reilly regime.
There’s dozens of stories like this.
REILLY’S STEEL CITY LEGACY
Malcolm was more than a coach for us at Newcastle. When he arrived, we were boys with a naive view of what professionalism was.
Through hard, physical work, he toughened us mentally and turned us into men who were able to beat the best.
The driving force behind our 1997 grand final win over Manly.
Malcolm expected a lot but those years were the happiest of my career. No mind games, the respect he gave to all his players bled through the club and formed us as a family.
In any kind of battle, any kind of challenge, no one is more capable than Malcolm Reilly.
When it comes to mental toughness he wins gold, silver and bronze.
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