Old trick catches Galloway
By Ray Chesterton
July 10, 2006
IT'S a sneaky game rugby league. With no advantages too small to be taken any time any where.
Big Wests Tigers prop Keith Galloway, his red hair making him easy to spot, was careering down field yesterday looking sharp against his old club Cronulla.
Even a try looked possible as the opposition fell away in his wake.
Suddenly he turned almost a semi-circle and passed the ball - directly to a Cronulla opponent chasing him.
He'd fallen for one of the oldest of rugby league ploys - responding to a former teammate calling for the ball using his nickname.
Galloway stopped galloping away and stopped, perplexed.
"Yeah, I heard someone call my nickname (Chubs)," he laughed in the dressing room.
"And I passed the ball.
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"It was a good opportunity to score. I might have even got there myself." Galloway, his surname tattooed in a decorative type face across his right breast in what must have been a painful counter to fears of future Alzheimer's, came to the Tigers' pack this year.
He's two metres tall and 110 kilos plus of aggression that is becoming more formidable under coach Tim Sheens each week.
Yesterday, like last week, he was in the starting side as the premiers pummelled a surprised Sharks, four tries to one.
It was as unexpected and comprehensive as the Tigers' 42-16 win when the two teams played in the first round.
It was also not a game of memorable achievement as Sheens confirmed.
But Sheens, like all coaches, takes what he can get.
Pretty or ugly all wins carry the same two points. Rugby league coaches are not art dealers.
"We didn't play well but we won," Sheens said.
"There are times when we played well and lost."
It is still a challenge to see the Tigers in the finals at the end of the season even though they are only one game out of the eight - Cronulla as well placed on yesterday's performance - but at least the Tigers are full of grit and determined to fight all the way.
Fullback Brett Hodgson, hooker Robbie Farah and half Scott Prince are all meshing into an attacking trio capable of making up for the loss of five-eighth Benji Marshall.
The failed experiment with Farah at halfback was quickly consigned to the scrapheap last week with yesterday leaving no doubt his most effective position is in the number nine jersey.
Hodgson's interchange with one of the wingers and shifting to five eighth at times keeps the defence in two or even three minds.
For Cronulla it was a major disappointment.
Like their opposition they were at the mercy of their own mistakes from incredibly poor handling.
Skipper Brett Kimmorley, while admitting that dropping the ball was a major problem, was unable to explain why.
"We got behind and panicked a bit," he said.
"We didn't lift when it got tougher."
While the attack might have suffered the Sharks defended well, particularly in the first half when Wests dominated possession and territory and managed only one try.
The Daily Telegraph
