Making the Team (6 page)

“Replacing Ben Hannant for the Brisbane Broncos is their newest player, Deadly D!” the announcer calls out. No one has heard of me before, but they clap politely. The only person cheering is Justice. He's still jumping up and down in the stands.

“That's my boy, Deadly! Yeah!” he shouts. He does a dance move and spins around like Michael Jackson.

The trainer grabs my arm. “You're in the front row today, Deadly. Go for it!” I run on to the field and take my position. On the last tackle the Panthers kick it downfield.
Our fullback has the ball again and runs it back to where we are standing.

“Deadly's ball! Deadly's ball!” yells Scott Prince. The dummy half passes it to me and I run as hard as I can. There are two players waiting for me. I crash into them and realise something is wrong. I've dropped the ball! Their halfback scoops it up and spreads it out wide to their fast men. Their winger scores a soft try in the corner. Shame.

I feel like hiding. I've only been on the field for two minutes and I have given away a converted try. The score is 16 to 6. Panthers in front.

“Don't worry, Deadly,” says Prince. “Make up for it next time.”

Chapter 28

Welcome to First Grade

The game is racing away before my eyes. I might be big and strong, but am I puffed! I can't believe how fast they're playing. The Panthers knock on after the kick off. We have the ball.

“My run, my run!” I call for it, but the dummy half passes to Alex Glenn on the opposite side. He runs ten metres before he's tackled. The Panthers players don't get off him. One of them is sitting on his head. “Get off the player!” screams the referee.

Sam Thaiday looks towards him. “Please ref, he's sitting on his face!” Thaiday says. The ref blows a whistle and
gives us the penalty.

“Penalty to Brisbane, the Panthers player's bottom was in contact with the ball carrier's head!” he shouts. The crowd cheers. Alex Glenn looks disgusted. He's had someone's butt in his face. Prince kicks for touch and we are twenty metres out from the Broncos line. I signal to Prince.

“My ball,” I say.

“You sure?”

“Just give it to me,” I reply, pumped and standing deep, ready to run on to the ball. Prince takes the tap. I take my run up and watch the ball closely. I won't drop it this time. Prince pops the ball up. I catch it and hold it tight. I'm moving fast. The Panthers players are approaching. I get ready for impact – five, four, three, two, one, SMASH! I run into three defenders. They bounce off me like bowling pins. One of the wingers tries to catch me but I push him away like a rag doll. He ends up eating grass and dirt. The fullback races over and launches his entire body. He bounces off me like a roo hitting the bullbar of a semitrailer. There is no one left to stop me. I run under the
posts and score.

The crowd goes insane! My team mates rush in and jump on top of me in celebration.

“Yeah, brah!” smiles Prince.

“Good hit up, D!” says Reed.

“Welcome to first grade, D!” says Thaiday.

The announcer comes over the speaker. “Try to the Broncos number seventeen, Deadly D!”

The crowd erupts again as they see the replay on the big screen. Prince kicks the conversion and it's now 16 points to 12. Panthers still in front.

Chapter 29

Three-Person Piggyback

Five minutes to go. The Panthers captain is telling his team to keep us out of their half. They kick to us and the ball is coming in my direction. I catch it safely and run as fast as I can. This time four defenders are hanging off me. Someone tackles me around the legs and I go crashing to the ground. I play the ball and our forwards run it up hard. Prince kicks on the last tackle and the Panthers have it deep in their own half.

Three minutes to go.

The Panthers pass it this way, they pass it that way. They need a converted try to steal the game. Their
forwards make some good ground and then their halfback does something amazing. He chip kicks over our heads and then catches it. He steps one Broncos player, and another. He dummies once, then dummies twice before passing it to his winger.

The winger flies down the side of the ground. Reed is chasing him. The try-line is approaching. The winger dives to score. Reed lunges and drags his ankles into touch. Wait! No way! His arm is outstretched, reaching for the try-line. The Panthers player grounds the ball on the white line! But has he grounded the ball before going into touch? It's way too hard to tell.

The referee calls time off and says, “We'll go to the video.”

There is a nervous wait. We huddle together, talking about what we will do if it is a no-try. The whole crowd sits frozen. Justice's eyes are open wide, watching for the result. A little spinner appears in the middle of the big screen … NO-TRY comes up in big red letters. The crowd is on the edge of their seats.

One minute to go.

The Broncos take the twenty-metre tap and advance the ball upfield. The first tackle is made. The ball is played and passed to Corey Parker who makes twelve easy metres. This time the ball is passed out wide. Our second rower throws a pass to our inside centre, who runs to halfway.

“Third tackle!” screams the referee. My mouth is dry and the sweat is stinging my eyes.

Justin Hodges moves to pass from dummy half but is tackled by a wall of Panthers players. The crowd is booing, the Panthers must be offside.

As the ball is played, Josh McGuire signals, “You and me D, get ready.”

McGuire gets the ball and I follow on his outside shoulder. What'll it be, a tricky pass to me or will he dummy and run? Just as I expected, he holds the ball as he's tackled.

Twenty seconds to go. We're inside the Panthers half.

“Fourth tackle!” yells the referee. The ball is passed to Prince. The Panthers are closing in on him. It's too late to kick. With a quick look around, I see I'm the only player he can pass to.

“It all yours brah, don't waste it,” he says. I sprint towards the corner of the field. My legs are like pistons, pumping up and down. The more space I have, the faster they move.

Ten seconds to go.

I fend off one Panthers player, then another. The rest are chasing me. I am ten metres out. They can't catch me, the crowd is out of their seats, when WHACK! I am hit from behind. I try to keep my balance. If I get tackled, the game is over and we lose. Whoever it is, they are hanging on tight. I am piggy-backing the Panthers centre, winger and halfback. They pull me to the left and they pull me to the right trying to drag me down.

The full-time siren blares from the stadium speakers, and I'm three metres out.

I struggle to keep upright and moving forward. My knees are trembling under the weight of the three Panthers players. One more step and I will score. I dive for the try-line. My body crashes to the ground. With my arm outstretched, I ground the ball on the white paint of the try-line five metres from the sideline.

The ref blows his whistle. The crowd goes ape! I have scored! Team mates rush in and jump on top of me.

But the game isn't finished yet.

The score is now sixteen-all. The crowd are on the edge of their seats as they watch Prince line up his goal kick. He needs to kick it to win the game. If he misses it we go into golden-point extra time. But by the look of the Broncos players, they've had enough.

The conversion isn't an easy one. He must be deadly accurate. Prince looks towards the sky and then back to the goal posts. The crowd goes silent, except for the Panthers supporters. They do everything they can to distract him. He places the ball on the kicking tee and lines it up. I watch him walk in towards the ball as he gracefully strikes it in the direction of the posts. Both teams watch it as it spirals through the air. The people down the other end of the stadium stretch their necks to see if the ball is on target. It goes straight through the uprights! The touch judges raise their flags. Broncos win eighteen points to sixteen!

The stadium erupts! Kids are waving their flags and
strangers are hugging each other in the stands. It's only a trial match, but the crowd knows they've seen an amazing game of football tonight. They're excited about the upcoming season, and so am I.

Chapter 30

Breakfast

Mum is at the table eating breakfast and reading the newspaper. Mongrel the cat is hungry and annoying her as usual. She's looking at the photos of the game, trying to spot me being a ball boy. My body is sore from last night's game, but I can't let Mum know I'm hurting.

“You got home late last night,” says Mum, looking up from the paper.

“Yeah,” I say. “The club wanted us to stay back and pump up the balls.” I hate fibbing to Mum, but I haven't worked out how to tell her the truth.

“Are you and Justice the world's best ball boys yet?” she smiles, taking a bite of her toast. I grab the nearest box of cereal and pour it in a bowl.

“No, but I got a bit of time on the field. I think they want us for the next game as well,” I say, pouring some milk.

“Good for you, son!” Mum smiles. She finishes reading the paper and gets up to tidy the kitchen. I reach for the sports pages. I'm glad she hasn't read these. One of the headlines says, “Who Is Deadly D?” There's a picture of me that nearly fills the entire back page! In the photo, I am crashing into some Panthers players. The article says kids everywhere are calling Deadly D a hero. It also says that in some country towns, after the game, kids ran outside and started playing footy. They all wanted to be just like Deadly D! Maybe Justice is right. Maybe the curse
is
a gift. It looks like coming to Brisbane wasn't such a bad idea after all.

I grip my spoon and dig it into my cereal. I'm starving. Playing in the NRL gives you an appetite. As I put the spoon to my mouth, I see Mum at the sink, giving me a weird look.

“What?”

“You gonna eat that?” she asks.

“Yeah, why?” I say.

“Those cornflakes you're about to eat …” she says. “What about them?”

“They aren't cornflakes, they're cat food,” she laughs.

Chapter 31

An Interesting Conversation

It's lunchtime. Mr Woolly's window is above the handball courts. The noise from his office hits the brick wall opposite his window and travels downwards. Sometimes you can hear him telling his wife how much he loves her. Well, I think it's his wife. It's the kind of stuff you don't want to hear, but you can't help it. The only way to ignore it is to keep playing handball.

The other day Mr Woolly had a conversation that was worth stopping handball for. Justice, some other boys and
I stood motionless, ears pointed towards his window. This is how it went:

Mr Woolly:
I'm glad you could make it, Mr Knutz.

Mr Knutz:
This better be good Woolly, I've got five cars to fit tyres on. And you're chewin' into my smoko time.

Mr Woolly:
About two weeks ago, Jared went on a school excursion to the Brisbane Broncos training day.

Mr Knutz:
I know. He nicked a ball from there. It's sitting next to our pool table, ha ha ha ha.

Mr Woolly:
It's more serious than that. Jared was involved in a very serious incident of bullying. I'm afraid the police may have to be involved.

Mr Knutz:
What's that boy done now?

Mr Woolly:
He has intentionally tripped a grade-six boy down the steps of the grandstand.

Mr Knutz:
Bulldust. Jared wouldn't do that! Where's your proof, Woolly?

Mr Woolly:
Right here, Mr Knutz. The Broncos have sent me a video of their security footage. Mr Knutz, the video does not lie. You will clearly see Jared sticking his foot out and tripping the other boy. Next, you can see the
poor boy somersaulting down the steps. Next you can see the same boy running away with blood on his face.

Mr Knutz:
Crikey! That boy of mine has really done it now! Did you say the cops have seen this?

Mr Woolly:
No, not yet. But before the Broncos send this to the police, they have requested to speak to you and Jared personally. I think they would rather settle the matter privately.

Uh oh! Before we can find out what happens next, the playground duty teacher spots us, looking towards Mr Woolly's window. Mrs Kellogg, the cranky old teacher from grade seven blows her whistle to get our attention. When we see her coming, we freeze. We look like a mob of garden gnomes.

“And what might you boys be doing?” says Rice Bubble. Everyone calls her “Rice Bubble” 'cause of her last name. She has one hand on her hip and the other holding a green clipboard folder. We look at each other nervously. We've been caught eavesdropping. No one is saying anything. We wait for someone else to speak first. It seems like hours, but Justice is the first to reply.

“Umm, we're just researching for our project,” says Justice, shrugging his shoulders.

“Which project is that?” Rice Bubble growls. Justice already has an answer locked and loaded.

“Our bird project. We're listening for the call of the speckled bottomed, black-breasted booby bird,” explains Justice. “It's closest relative is commonly known as the yellow belly, short-beaked nutcracker.”

I want in on the action. I give my favourite line from the Crocodile Dundee movie. “No, Justice, it's a Jabajaba Ardedah, which means, bird that walks like a man.” Justice has never seen
Crocodile Dundee
before, so he gives me a weird look, but it's not half as bad as the look I get from Rice Bubble.

She squints, looking at us even more suspiciously. It's hard not to keep from laughing at the imaginary bird names.

“Well you won't hear any birds with your ears against that brick wall. I know what you stickybeaks are up to! Get down to the oval, all of you!” orders Rice Bubble.

Chapter 32

Iron My Undies

The Broncos are doing their weight sessions and it's a seriously hot day. I am in the gym, training as Deadly D. My weights partner is Sam Thaiday.