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"Prowler" Riley Brown seeks redemption with Titans
By Luke Turgeon
RILEY Brown is determined to put the injury nightmare of 2009 behind him and finally make a name for himself for something other than that infamous "prowler'' tackle on Souths golden boy Craig Wing.
"Yeah, that would be nice," said the 25-year-old, "but I think the media blew that out a bit really. Everyone I spoke to thought it was a load of rubbish.
"I was getting a lot of hate mail from Souths supporters but I didn't think too much of it. It didn't bother me too much."
The former Rooster, who washed up on the Gold Coast shores, thanks to a good word from Sydney teammate Craig Fitzgibbon in the ear of coach John Cartwright, is realistic about his chances of squeezing into the starting 17 for Round 1 against the Warriors.
The classy rake, who also boasts solid utility value, knows he has a lot to prove after being restricted to just six games last year thanks to a horror run with injury.
"I broke my arm against the Broncos in the finals in 2008 and had to get an operation with a metal plate and eight pins put in," said Brown, who is on a one-year Titans contract.
"Then I came back in the 2009 trials and I did it again and was out for another eight weeks.
"I came back again and then the week before I was going to play I broke it again at training.
"Because of all that, the surgeon said he had to take the plate out and that put me out for another three months.
"I was shattered really. We didn't have a good year at the Roosters and it is a bit of a shame that we ended up getting the wooden spoon, which made it even worse."
But Brown has endured far greater adversity off the field.
His father, Ross, is serving a 17-year jail sentence for the murder of his mother, Judith, in 2000 -- a crime Brown believes his father is innocent of.
Brown was 16 and by the age of 18, he was made the legal guardian of younger brothers Joel and Gene.
While he has spoken of the family tragedy in the past, Brown now prefers not to talk about it as he tries to move on from that chapter in his life and look to the future.
As well as footy, that future on the Gold Coast also includes being reunited with brother Gene, with whom he is currently bunking in until his partner Samara moves up from Sydney next week.
Gene is also in the Titans program, currently attending Palm Beach Currumbin High School and hoping to earn a spot in the Gold Coast under-18s side.
Brown's other brother, Joel, played for Tweed Heads in the Queensland Cup this year but has since moved back to the family's hometown Newcastle to work in the mines.
"Now that I am up here I am looking forward to a new challenge," said Brown, who has 67 NRL games under his belt during stints at the Newcastle Knights (2004-07) and the Roosters (2008-09).
"I want to try and get in the first grade team and try and get my contract renewed for another couple of years and hopefully stay here for a lot longer.
"There are a lot of good players in the team. You just have to train hard and impress a few of the coaching staff and then be lucky enough to get picked."
Daily Telegraph