Wendell Sailor reveals hilarious Mad Monday tale after grand final win
NRL legend Wendell Sailor has pulled back the curtain on a classic Mad Monday tale where he pranked a rugby league icon.
Four-time premiership winner Wendell Sailor has spilt the beans on a classic Mad Monday tale from his heyday involving rugby league icon Phil Gould.
Sailor spent a fruitful nine years with the Brisbane Broncos, and notched over 100 tries for the club.
Watch every 2021 NRL Telstra Finals Series match before Grand Final. Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >
The 47-year-old was a member of the 2000 grand final side that defeated the Sydney Roosters 14-6, but it was the celebrations rather than the victory itself that are etched in the mind of Sailor.
The winger gave an insight into just what type of character he evolves into when enjoying the festivities, and revealed exactly why the target of his Mad Monday prank got what he and his teammates thought they deserved.
“Sometimes when you’re on the drink, I’m that sort of bloke who makes a few phone calls,” Sailor told Triple M Sydney’s Dead Set Legends. “The boys want to gee someone up, I’m that guy who's like, ‘Let’s ring up so and so’.
“So, Gus Gould. Can I say firstly, I love Gus Gould. We’re friends, we’ve worked together.
“So, 2000 grand final. Gus did an article on the Saturday or Sunday saying why the Roosters would beat the Broncos. And our Broncos side was pretty good. Petero Civoniceva, Kevvie Walters, Darren Lockyer, Lote Tuqiri, obviously myself, we had a pretty fair side.”
Having won yet another premiership, the Broncos let their hair down after the win over the Roosters.
“We’ve obviously drunk Sunday night, we’ve pushed through,” Sailor said. “You know the recovery and spas and stuff, a few of the boys are in there having a few beers, Brian McGrath’s organised the alcohol, he’s our manager.
“The boys go, ‘Has anyone got Phil Gould’s number?’ Of course, I’m not saying who had it, but they gave it to me.
“About 8 o’clock in the morning, I called Phil Gould. He answers, I have it on loudspeaker.
“I said, ‘Hey Gus’. He said, ‘Hello’. I said, ‘Hey it’s Wendell Sailor here, mate’. He goes, ‘How are you going, mate?’
“I said, ‘Oh look, just want to say we’re sitting here with the premiership trophy here, mate’.
“And there was Locky (Lockyer), Lote, they kept piping me up. But respect to Phil Gould, he said, ‘Boys, you were too good’.”
That would prove to be Sailor’s last Mad Monday in rugby league until 2008, as he inked a deal with the ARU to make the switch to rugby union in 2001.
Sailor enjoyed Mad Mondays in two different codes after agreeing to make to switch to rugby union in 2001 but according to the winger, one code’s special day was a bit wilder than the other.
“They’re both pretty loose,” Sailor told Triple M. “But you know, the union boys, because they’re private school boys, they get a rub of the green.
“They’re the worst ones.”