Injured Knights player Alex McKinnon never far from thoughts of close mate Nic White
DEDICATION has got Nic White a long way recently but above all else he hopes his persistence can - in some way - help good mate Alex McKinnon.
Wallabies
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WHEN it comes to Nic White, one saying fits as snug as his XS Wallabies jersey.
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”.
Exactly what type of dog is debatable - shihtzu was suggested by Stephen Moore last week - but there’s no arguing sheer persistence is among White’s primary assets.
Persistence pays when you’re staring down rivals 50kg heavier, when playing a long-game prank, or when you are competing for a Test jersey with a rival rated as a World XV player.
Dedication has got White a long way in recent years but above all those now, White hopes his persistence can - in some way - help a good mate walk again.
The Wallabies No.9 is a tight friend of Alex McKinnon, the Newcastle rugby league forward who broke his neck in March.
The pair grew up playing footy with and against each in the upper Hunter Valley, and later went off together to St Gregory’s College, Campbelltown.
“I was from Scone and he was from Aberdeen. We had a few cousins there as well so we were a pretty tight knit group, as boarders,” White says.
After the tragic tackle occurred at AAMI Park on a Monday night, White had to play at the same ground against the Rebels five days later.
“I wasn’t even thinking about footy at that stage. It just felt like rugby for a few weeks was insignificant,” White recalls.
“I thought the whole time how quickly Alex went from being thought of as a potential Origin player … and then that happened. It certainly brings perspective.
“What happened to him is very tragic, but I hold great hope that he’ll walk again. I know he is working hard towards that, and he is the type of guy if he works hard at something, he does it.”
Persistence pays, and White, who has visited McKinnon in hospital in Sydney, said he’ll keep turning up at his bedside for as long as it takes.
“There will be times he will be doing tough, when he’s not getting progressions with his rehab and so on. It is going to be a long slog for a few years, and he has to have that ongoing support,” White says.
“I’d like to think I will commit to being there for him. Not just be a guy who sees him in the first few months and then a year goes by. He will need our support and so will his parents and his fiancee, so you can’t slip off the radar.”
White learned to persist long ago; a survival mechanism when you’ve been the little bloke on every football field ever taken.
At St Gregs, a traditional rugby league nursery, White would play league on Thursdays and union on Saturday. Both, he says, helped mould him as a future professional.
“I used to joke that league helped me find my shoulders, and learn to tackle,” White grins.
He played with now-NRL players like Matt Groat, Jack Stockwell, Jack de Bellin, Sam Williams and Kyle O’Donnell, but rugby was always his no.1 choice.
“I was playing a lot of time with a bunch of leaguie guys in rugby so I was kind of teaching them and playing with them at the same time,” he says.
Owen Finegan scouted White to join the Brumbies academy in 2008 and the rest is history; namely two years in Canberra club footy, a season with Eastwood and eventually a Super Rugby debut jn 2011.
With a strong pass, booming kick and shoulders that could handle those 50kg weight disparities, 80kg White quickly emerged as one of Australia’s top halfbacks.
His on-field contribution to the Brumbies’ revitalisation was clear, but to insiders, his off-field impact in bonding the clubhouse is also valued.
White is also the Brumbies’ chief mischief maker, whose witty humour and “stitch-ups” spare no target.
Several teammates were stung by a fake dating profile that saw them standing in aisle three at Coles with bananas in a basket, and even the coach wasn’t safe.
When Jake White put a rinse through the hair early in his tenure, no-one was game to say anything until White saw him and chose the blunt knife: “Jake, what have you done to your head?”
Still feeling a newbie, White hasn’t yet rolled out the pranks in Wallaby-land but based on his on-field comfort, they can’t be too far away.
White first won a Wallaby call-up in 2012 but was unused on the bench in three Tests against Wales, and shoulder surgery denied him a Test debut when Will Genia was later injured.
When Nick Phipps was chosen as Genia’s back-up for the Lions series in 2013, a disillusioned White listened hard to some heavy recruiting from a French club.
But Ewen McKenzie’s arrival changed everything swiftly, and after three caps off the bench, White started his fourth Test ahead of Genia.
Genia returned for the Spring Tour but White again displaced the star Queenslander this season in the gold No.9, and though he filled the role of Bambi hunter in Brisbane last weekend, White’s outstanding performance against France silenced the critics.
White understands it will be a long sell to Australian rugby fans.
“When you are taking a person’s spot who has such a strong reputation, it is motivating knowing they could easily come back. You have to work hard to win that spot and hold it too,” he says.
“So I had thought that, to play good for one week and have a good result isn’t going to stop people seeing me as a no.2. I knew it would take a while.”
Persistence, in other words, pays.
Originally published as Injured Knights player Alex McKinnon never far from thoughts of close mate Nic White