‘Funniest man ever’: Storm hooker Harry Grant lifts the lid on ex-housemate Braydon Trindall
Braydon Trindall has beaten the odds to carve out an NRL career, and his good friend and potential grand final foe Harry Grant has insight on his early days.
Melbourne star Harry Grant has a secret to share about former housemate Braydon Trindall.
Apparently the Cronulla halfback, apart from being one of the stars of the NRL finals series heading into the Sharks’ preliminary final against Penrith at Accor Stadium on Saturday night, is a whiz in the kitchen.
“Actually, I’ll tell you what, he used to love cooking,” Grant said.
“He would love putting a feed on for the boys. Loin chops were probably his go-to.
“He’s the funniest man ever.
“He wasn’t the tidiest but he made up for it when he cooked a nice dinner.”
Grant and Trindall lived together for about 12 months at Brightwater on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast when they were part of the Melbourne Storm under-20s system.
They went their separate ways when Trindall joined the Sharks but were reunited a few years later when Grant moved to Sydney while on loan with the Wests Tigers.
The Storm skipper spent a couple of weeks on Trindall’s couch while he tried to find a permanent home before the NRL intervened, forcing him to move out due to Covid regulations preventing players from rival clubs sharing accommodation.
Grant has kept an eye on Trindall ever since.
“He is such a naturally talented player and he worked bloody hard,” Grant said.
“He’s got a great feel or understanding of the game as well. But I just love that he was never shy of contact, he was just tough.
”For him to have the opportunity he has, he committed early and moved away from home and moved to Caboolture when he was pretty young just to sort of get a better opportunity.
“He’s reaping the rewards now, him and his family.”
Finding Tricky
Trindall moved to Caboolture on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast with his family when he was 11. From there, he was signed by Melbourne on the recommendation of Matt Adamson, who was working for the Storm at the time as their Queensland director of coaching.
Adamson put together a side that featured the likes of Trindall, Grant, Beau Fermor, Scott Drinkwater and Jesse Arthurs.
Despite having a coterie of future NRL stars in their ranks, they missed the finals.
But Trindall left an impression.
“He was so small those early days, so there were some question marks about whether he could compete in the NRL team,” Adamson said.
“But he could play – he was quick, had a great passing game, and played deep into the line. All the things you look for in a seven.”
He may have been vertically challenged in footballing terms, but the one thing you never had to worry about with Trindall was his defence according to his then-coach, Eric Smith.
It was one of the qualities that made Trindall a favourite among his teammates.
“I don’t like to tar him with the same brush as Joey (Andrew Johns), but he was similar to Joey in that he would get in front and whack blokes,” Smith said.
“That was one thing that I remember, that he was the halfback that put his body in front.
“The boys used to feed off a little bit because they knew that at some point Tricky was going to put a shot on someone and it would just lift the team.
“I think that was also to do with him knowing how hard he had to work for everything that he got and that it just made him into a tough player physically and mentally I think.”
The other quality that won over Smith was his confidence in his own ability.
“If he sees something, he backs himself to do it,’ Smith said.
“That’s what you see with him. If he sees something, he just backs himself to get it done. That was probably his biggest strength – he didn’t need anyone else to believe in him.
“If he believed he could do it, he could do it. I remember him kicking a 45 or 46 metre field goal with about two seconds to go playing the Roosters one game to win us the game.
“He wasn’t the first choice – we were setting up for a one pointer and he just said give it to me and he just put it over.
“That was just him – if he thought he could do it, he just backed himself.
Sharks come calling
When the NRL under-20s competition wound up at the end of 2017, Trindall was left without a home. That’s when Cronulla – or more pointedly their former recruitment officer Grant Jones – came calling.
Jones shared some footage of Trindall with the Sharks former Jersey Flegg coach Dave Howlett and the pair made the decision to get him to the club.
It wasn’t that easy.
Trindall rejected them initially before coming back on their radar ahead of the 2018 season. Later that year he would lead the Sharks to a Jersey Flegg title against a star-studded Penrith team.
“He kept saying that he wanted to play hooker,” Howlett said.
“He was a tough bugger. I told him he was the best halfback in the competition. Why would we move him to hooker? I don’t know if he was doing it just to keep me on my toes.
“Penrith had a stacked team that season with Daine Laurie, Stephen Crichton, Brian To’o, Spencer Leniu, Shawn Blore, Mitch Kenny, Brendan Hands and J’maine Hopgood.
“They beat us convincingly in the first week of the finals but Tricky was the best player in the competition that year.
“He completely controlled the game in the grand final with his kicking game and almost all our points came from his initiative.
“If there was one thing I learned about Tricky that year it was he loved the challenge.
“In fact, the bigger the game the better he played and what we saw in that grand final was that he was head and shoulders above everyone else on the field.”
To’o vividly recalls the impact Trindall had that day.
“He was breaking tackles, I reckon he made at least eight tackle breaks,” To’o said.
“From one short person to another short person, that just shows how much heart he’s got. Still, to this day he is doing the same thing.
“That game, he killed us in that game … they deserved to win in it.”
Beating the Panthers
Trindall now wants to repeat the feat on Saturday night.
The Sharks will go into the game as heavy underdogs but Trindall has been down this road before. He has beaten the odds to carve out an NRL career, having overcome concerns about his stature and a suspension earlier this year for an off-field incident.
He was brilliant in the Sharks’ win over North Queensland last weekend and a repeat performance will go a long way towards securing the Sharks a place in the grand final.
A pot of gold could be waiting at the end of the rainbow given Trindall is off contract at the end of next season and free to negotiate with rival clubs from November 1.
Lead the Sharks into the big dance and clubs will be queuing to wave big dollars under his nose. It would also cap a remarkable journey for a footballer who had to fight hard to make his mark in the NRL.
“He wasn’t someone looking at that 20s side coming through that was probably standing out like Harry Grant and those guys,” Smith said.
“I think that’s probably what’s made him a better player now because he’s actually had to work a little bit harder than most to get it.
“And I guess he doesn’t want to let it go now that he’s worked so hard to get it.
“But mate, he was a really good kid to coach, really likeable.
“When you sat down and had a chat with him, he was probably more like a man than a young kid. He just had so much belief in himself.
“He just believed that he could do something. We’ve crossed paths and he’s still the exact same kid – he comes up, gives me a hug.
“He hasn’t changed a bit.
“He’s still grounded and remembers all the people in his pathway to get to where he was.
“Which is always nice to see with a young kid who comes through that they still respect the journey that they went on and the people that helped them get there.
“You get a pretty good gauge of someone based on the people that they take the field with and everyone loved taking the field with Trick and everyone loved him being in the team.
“Footy players love being around people they can trust on and off the field and I think he has his teammates trust for sure.”
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