WHEN the Indigenous All Stars run onto Skilled Park to take on the NRL All Stars on Saturday night on the Gold Coast, no-one will be prouder than George Rose.
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And of the players taking part in the match, there will probably be no-one luckier either. The Bathurst footballer has been a fixture in the Indigenous side since the inception of the now annual clash but only some fate and some fortunate programming is allowing him to take part in the third edition of the All Stars game.
Rose was suspended after playing his part in Manly’s NRL grand final win over the New Zealand Warriors for striking Warriors hooker Aaron Heremaia, his two-match ban later reduced to one on appeal.
In a stroke of luck, Rose can serve that ban through Manly’s pre-season trial match to be held tonight against Cronulla.
Initially the loophole wouldn’t have been open, with Manly’s only scheduled trial to have taken place in England where they will travel to take on Leeds in the World Club Challenge.
“I’m very grateful that it did [work out that way],” Rose told the Gold Coast Bulletin after a training session with the Indigenous side earlier this week.
“If I’d missed the appeal, I would have missed this game and I also would have missed our World Club Challenge game.”
Save for maybe Preston Campbell, who initiated the concept of the All Stars match, there is probably no player in the NRL more proud of his Aboriginal heritage than the big front rower, who learned his craft with the Bathurst Penguins.
To this day he still tries to line up for the Walgett Aboriginal Connection at the annual Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout each year.
He needs no reminding of where he comes from.
“I’ve always grown up as an Aboriginal person, I was born an Aboriginal man and I’ll die an Aboriginal man,” Rose said with pride.
“I’m a Kamilaroi man, my pop was a Euahlayi man and my nan was a Kamilaroi lady and the family was from Walgett.
“Everyone grew up on the banks of the Namoi there.
“It’s just something that I’ve always accepted and been proud of, I love my culture.”
In terms of his football, Rose has gone from cult hero to key figure as Manly has become one of the competition powerhouses, and on Saturday night Rose is well aware of the task he faces in taking on some of the game’s true heavyweights.
“We’ve got a great forward pack here, we’ve got size and mobility,” he said.
“I’ve got nothing to worry about there. Even our little guys are tough little guys, the hookers.
“These fellas are great players and I’m glad to be on this side and not the other.”
Tomorrow night’s match will feature several interesting sub-plots, with the NRL trialling three new rules.
Each team will be allowed one “power play” per half where they nominate two opponents to sit out of the action for five minutes or until a try is scored.
Differential penalties in the play-the-ball area such as hold-downs and other minor infringements will now result in a re-setting of the tackle count rather than a stoppage and the accompanying kick for touch.
Players will also be able to aim at kicking a 20/40, a new take on the existing 40/20 rule which will allow players to kick from deeper in their own half but still earn possession further upfield if they can find touch.
Rose will start the match as the teams fight for the inaugural Arthur Beetson Trophy.
Kick-off is at 8o’clock tomorrow night.
