A day in a life of a Kangaroo

[DIEHARD]

By Dean Ritchie

There are the card sharks who play for cash. The snorer who wears a mouthguard. The compulsive cleaner. The coach who loses his cufflinks. The reader. The guitar player. And the bloke who refuses to close the bathroom door.

This bizarre mix is the 2005 Kangaroos.

Nearly a fortnight into the tour and some jovial home truths are starting to be revealed: What goes on inside the Kangaroos' rooms, what happens on the bus, who has bad habits and who hangs out with who.

Firstly, there are the card players.

Each player generally takes the same seat on the bus to training each day and there are seats that face one another for the card fanatics.

Ben Kennedy, Craig Gower, Steve Price and Trent Barrett always play and Kennedy and Price are down ?s;20 ($47) to Gower and Barrett in euchre.

Roommates stay the same for the entire tour. There's O'Meley and Civoniceva, Ryan and Creagh, Minichiello and Prince, Cooper and Waterhouse, Kennedy and Buderus, Mason and Price, Tate and Gasnier, Grothe and Fitzgibbon, Gower and King, Hindmarsh and Barrett, O'Donnell and Ryles.

Skipper Lockyer has his own room, as do the Kangaroos staff.

Barrett and Hindmarsh first roomed together on the 2000 tour.

"We get on really well but he snores," Barrett said. "He now wears a mouthguard to stop it which is very thoughtful - and something I'm pretty happy about."
Asked for Barrett's best habit, Hindmarsh says: "He gets me out of bed in the mornings." Asked for Barrett's worst habit, he says: "Getting me out of bed in the mornings."

Tate has a fetish for cleaning. He and Gasnier's room is spotless. But the Dragons centre is concerned.

"He is a clean freak," Gasnier said. "It's bordering on obsessive, compulsive."

Each time the Kangaroos travel, they wear stylish black suits boasting the Australian badge, but Tate and coach Wayne Bennett constantly lose their cufflinks.

Bennett does not sit down at the front of the bus with the other officials - or down the back either.

"He's trying to be cooler by sitting in the middle - but he's still a nerd," team manager Steve Walters said.

Fitzgibbon reads and plays music. At the moment he's reading about Chairman Mao. He brought a guitar on tour which he and roommate Grothe play in their free time. Ryles and O'Meley have iPods.

Ryles and Hindmarsh also walk and play portable PlayStations and Buderus is a keen shopper - snapping up clothes at Manchester's Trafford Centre. Prince and Tate have been hanging out, along with Civoniceva, but there are no cliques.

"You just join in when you hear a group of guys are going to do something," said Gower.

Creagh is taking everything in. O'Donnell hates being interviewed or talking about himself. Lockyer is quiet; Mason always the life of the party.

He saw some media who had enjoyed a night out.

Realising how little this team drinks, Mason said: "You guys have got hangovers again ... it's making me sick."

Source : The Daily Telegraph - http://www.NEWS.com.au

[DIEHARD]

I love these stories that give you a peak into the real character of players and day to day life on tour.

More please!

[Super Cronk]

I love these stories that give you a peak into the real character of players and day to day life on tour.

More please!

yeah its great hey?

if you want more of this type of thing...matt king has a section on the melbourne storm site where he has a journal for his tri nations experince...some good stuff in their about fellow roo's..but mainly about king and what he has been upto..also one on their with david kidwell..worth a read.

[DIEHARD]

Hey thanks for the tip mate, I'll check it out!

Love Mason's comments and the mention of PSPs, the Kangaroo's major sponsor.

I hope the Kangaroos got a few free PSPs.

[DIEHARD]

This is awesome! There is one for King and Kidwell. Both a Kiwi and a Kangaroo.

King - http://www.melbournestorm.com.au/def...?sec=13&ssec=2

Kidwell - http://www.melbournestorm.com.au/def...?sec=13&ssec=1

[Super Cronk]

this is the best :

Bennett does not sit down at the front of the bus with the other officials - or down the back either.

"He's trying to be cooler by sitting in the middle - but he's still a nerd," team manager Steve Walters said.

:rotflmao:

[Super Cronk]

This is awesome! There is one for King and Kidwell. Both a Kiwi and a Kangaroo.

King - http://www.melbournestorm.com.au/def...?sec=13&ssec=2

Kidwell - http://www.melbournestorm.com.au/def...?sec=13&ssec=1

yep. They are a good read..you really get the feel of what they go through etc when on tour.

[DeeGan]

Nice links and a great idea.

We (Titans) will be looking at something in our debut season with a player or two or three.

I WOULD LOVE A STEVE WAUGH TYPE TOUR DIARY to be penned by Darren Lockyer or someone of that ilk.

Cheers

DeeGan

[DIEHARD]

Nice links and a great idea.

We (Titans) will be looking at something in our debut season with a player or two or three.

I WOULD LOVE A STEVE WAUGH TYPE TOUR DIARY to be penned by Darren Lockyer or someone of that ilk.

Cheers

DeeGan

I have one from the '94 Kangaroo Tour by Laurie Daley. It's great.

Something there should be more of!

A Titans player diary would be fantastic. Being the first year of a new team it would have great historical signifigance as well. It could also be utitilised as part of a Titans Annual of 2007 with reviews of games etc.

Also as we have talked about before, a Titans TV feature similar to the Rugby Super League's SLTV or as it is currently called during Tri Nations GBTV.

It is fantastic! Getting to know players adds so much more to following football.

[Dakink]

Fantastic idea and one that hopefully the Titans will work on.

[Teegy]

I have that one aswell. Adam Gilchrist has one out about the World Cups aswell. both really good reads

[Steelers]

That is some good and interesting stuff