Three Amigos Turn Blues Brothers
Jarryd Hayne, Trent Hodkinson and Tony Williams have been Blues brothers for a lot longer than the past 24 hours. They grew up together playing for the Cabramatta Two Blues, wore the blue of Westfields Sports High School alongside each other and played their junior footy together in the blue (and gold) of the Parramatta Eels.
And in front of 52,000 parochial Queenslanders, the trio from Sydney's south-west will complete a remarkable journey when they walk into Suncorp Stadium with the expectations of a success-starved state on their shoulders.
''It's incredible, especially when you think that we've all come through this together from a young age,'' Hodkinson said.
''Me and Haynesy used to get a train from Minto to Fairfield to go to school together to Westfields. Then on training days after school we'd hop on a train to Cabramatta. Bix Rexy [Williams] was living at Liverpool, so he'd jump on the train there and we'd all meet up at the station.''
While Hodkinson spent almost every minute on a football field as a child alongside Williams and Hayne, he was in a different clique at school. ''It was mainly me and Tony mucking around and running amok, playing handball and things like that,'' Hayne said.
''Then you had Hodko with the surfy crew that were real chilled and laidback. I left in year 11 but Hodko and Tony went through to year 12 so we didn't get to play our senior school footy together, which is a bit disappointing. But growing up, Krippy [Kris Keating] took the limelight coming through when we were younger. He was the gun of the halves. Hodko was a great player. He was calm and mentally strong, which was a really good balance.
''For us, we always thought we'd play at NRL level together. And for a while there when the boys were playing 20s and I was in the NRL, you thought it might happen. But it wasn't meant to be. Trent had a lot of battles with his body, so to be back playing regular NRL is a great effort in itself. He's got a strong character and worked extremely hard to get himself right.''
Williams, a barnstorming winger in his junior days at Parramatta, was also first choice goal-kicker ahead of the sharp-shooting Hodkinson.
It's been almost a decade since the trio last shared the same dressing room, but Williams insists playing at separate clubs hasn't broken their special bond.
''It's a blessing to be able to play again with them,'' Williams said.
''The last time I played together with the boys was back in 2004 in Harold Matthews when we won the grand final. It's something beautiful to be back with them. We went to school together, played everywhere together and grew up together. We know each other's families, that's how close we all are.''
Blues teammate Michael Jennings was in the same age group at Penrith when the trio were coming through the ranks at the Eels.
''I remember it because I was playing five-eighth at the time,'' Jennings said.
''It's good to see them together. We were all in the same age group. T-Rex was on the wing and Haynesy was out the back and Hodko was in the halves. They were just a quality side all over the park. They were massive and we were the underdogs, but we still gave it to them in the grand final one year.''
