RLW 2007 Preview - Canterbury Bulldogs

[A.A.D]

Young Gun


Comings & Goings


The guts and Glory


by Matt Logue - RLW
Legs burning, lungs screaming, Jarrad Hickey feels te pain as he takes on the infamous Wanda sandhills during the off-season of 2001.

With the unrelenting summer sun belting down, the hulking 16 year-old prop struggles to breathe. Blokes who weigh 130kg just aren't meant to put themselves through this sort of torture. But climb he does, remembering the schoolyard taunts and using them as motivation to get to the top.

''Mate, I thought I was going to die, my legs wouldn't move and I just felt like collapsing,'' 21-year-old Hickey recalls. ''I felt that sick I was vomiting all over the place and could hardly stand up, let alone attempt to run up another bloody hill. The first time we went out there we started with a little ***** hill and I could barely do three of them.''

With childhood obesity on the increase and politicians and parents alike searching for solutions, Hickey's tale has an all too familiar ring to it.

''I started putting on weight when I was 11 and then it went out of control when I reached my adolescent years,'' he says. ''It was hard because that's when I really got a passion for playing footy and making a career out of it, but I couldn't even do one push up or one lap around the oval.

''I had surgery on my knee when I was in Year 10 and had to weigh myself. I'd always known I was overweight but standing on the scales that was the realisation that I actually let myself get that big.

''I had to do something about it or I could have had an early death. It was hard - I just felt like staying inside all day and hiding away from people.'' With Hickey despairing for his future, his saviour came in an unlikely form of mate Stephen Benjamin, who was looking to get into fitness conditioning and used his teenage pal as his guinea pig. Benjamin would arrange for Hickey to ride his pushbike to his house every afternoon for training, and at the weekends the pair would drive out to the shire for their assault on those bloody sandhills. As his weight fell his confidence rose, and the hard work paid dividends for the St Christopher's junior when he was invited to trial with the Bulldogs Jersey Flegg side in 2002.

''Yeah, I had to really knuckle down, so I went out with Stephen and he took me under his wing and trained me every day after school,'' Hickey recalls. ''He was very dedicated, and I wouldn't be here now without him. If it wasn't for him pushing me up those hills I'd be playing local footy and sitting at home eating corn chips.''

If that was Hickey's entree to physical pain then the main course was to be served up by Bulldogs strength and conditioning coaches Scott Campbell and Garry Carden.

''Here at the Bulldogs, we've got a tough initiation that players must pass to stay at the club and I can tell you Jarrad passed with flying colours,'' Campbell says. ''We've put the boys through mindless, painful activities that are both physically and mentally hard to deal with, but he didn't break down at all. He's got incredible amounts of natural endurance and while he'll never master the sprint and so much on the catwalk, Jarrad is the bloke with the big motor that runs all day.''

These days Hickey tips the scale at 114kg, and looks every bit the NRL enforcer, but he isn't about to drop his guard. ''I've always been a big bloke and had to work pretty hard to keep my weight down and stop myself from blowing out,'' he says. ''When I was younger I use to be a big fat heap and I copped plenty of taunts. It gets tough when the off-season comes around...instead of going out and drinking every night I've got to make sure I keep my fitness up.''

It's this sort of commitment that helped Hickey launch his NRL career with seven appearances in 2006 - a tally that is sure to climb rapidly in '07. ''The prospect of next season is very exciting. I should get a good crack at it with Roy and Nate having left the club,'' he says. ''I love the opportunity to prove myself. When I was younger I was a lot lazier and wouldn't have taken my chances and that's how I ended up being 130 kilos. Since I've come to the Bulldogs, though, it has been a real eye-opener and I've had to work to get what I want in life. It's weird, ig you told me five years ago that I'd end up enjoying pushing myself physically I wouldn't have believed you...I would have thought you were crazy!''

Having come so far in a short space of time you could forgive Hickey for a touch of ''reformed fatty'' bragging but he's quick to point out he still struggles to run the 100m in less than 17 seconds and bench presses ''not much''. ''Yeah, I don't like to piss in my own pocket,'' he grins. ''I'm not very fast and I'm not very strong and, if I was, I probably wouldn't tell you anyway. The moment you start talking yourself up, it's the death trap, because as soon as you do something wrong, people only just start pulling you down. I've probably learnt that the hard way because when I first cane to the Bulldogs I thought I was a lot further ahead than I actually was. I used to think if it didn't work out I'd just leave but I was pretty stupid back then.''

''The boys still give it to me about my guts, but I take it. I've been like this my whole life...it's slowely going!''

[Future Star]

Are you sure you're allowed to copy stuff from a magazin and put it on a free website??

[Meh]

Are you sure you're allowed to copy stuff from a magazin and put it on a free website??

I'd say so, but on topic it looks like these new forwards of the bulldogs are going to have to step up in the absence of myles and asotasi.

[~lee~]

Great post A.A.D - id be interested to see other teams ones like this if anyone has them.

Might have to get Nick in my dream team in 2007

Ben czislowski has gone to Wnnum Manly? I thought he was a decent player, what league do they play in?

[Cowboys_Rabbit_Fan]

Wynnum Manly are a QLD Cup Team.

[Dave]

Great post A.A.D - id be interested to see other teams ones like this if anyone has them.

Might have to get Nick in my dream team in 2007

Ben czislowski has gone to Wnnum Manly? I thought he was a decent player, what league do they play in?

I laugh at this.

[Williams]

Cizo played his heart out but just wasnt first grade material.
He is now a PE teacher in QLD.
Koups and Hickey are really going to fit into our team :d

[Go_The_Doggies]

I wish he was my pe teacher..cos then we could have endless discussions on league.

[Williams]

And hes a nice bloke, My PE teachers are a$$holes!

[Go_The_Doggies]

My pe teacher is a ginger.......and he like..laughs at me when he goes its a nice day for tennis..and I agree..i mean wtf is so funny.

[Williams]

Maybe its just a bad day for tennis.

You should listen to the radio to find out what the weathers like before you talk to your PE teacher :radio: