RedVDave
First Grade
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Mystery man ... Beau Scott. Source: The Daily Telegraph
No less than Wayne Bennett demanding his nephew be measured up for a NSW Origin jersey.
"Yeah, bought seven copies of your newspaper that day," the Picton coalminer laughs. "One for a scrapbook I'm putting together and the other six to keep as extras.
"Beau doesn't seek the limelight so he doesn't have a lot written about him. But that praise from Wayne, well, he must be doing something right, eh. Call the scrapbook a work in progress."
So who the bloody hell is Beau Scott?
This anonymous St George Illawarra centre who hunts pigs rather than press. Who drives tractors better than he ever has headlines. "Who may appear underrated," shrugs Dragons lock Dean Young. "But not by us."
Certainly an interview with the man himself gives little away.
Scott, you see, comes with all the hoopla you'd expect of a boy from Bargo, population 3500. A town boasting two dams, one dingo sanctuary and no tubs of male hair gel anywhere.
He's the son of a coalminer named Col. The husband of cocky's daughter, Amelia. A fella whose spare weekends are spent chasing boar, bass and any other creatures the law allows to be gutted by knife.
Scott says little. Pauses often. Some 30 minutes of country drawl causing your heartbeat to rise just once ... and only then because you misheard a yarn about his junior footy "involving Group 6".
"But, mate, I'm no Wendell Sailor," the rugged three-quarter says almost apologetically. "It's not that I'd hate more attention. Not that I'd like it either. It's just ... I dunno ... I don't get much."
But as uncle Jeff says, it's a work in progress. For proof, read over that Bennett back-page yarn again. The Queensland icon not only likens his charge to legendary Blue Chris Mortimer, but insists "he's the player if NSW want to stop Queensland scoring tries in key positions".
Scott now has a Country Origin jersey hanging in his cupboard. Signature drying on a new three-year deal, too. Even a Coaches Award presented by Bennett late last year ... a partner for the identical gong Nathan Brown handed him two years before.
"And that's why everyone loves playing alongside Beauy," prop Mick Weyman says. "He's tough. Straight and hard. Does it every week."
According to Dragons insiders, Bennett loves the selflessness born of Scott's bush upbringing.
Like that time as a schoolboy, swimming in some dam out west, when he almost severed four toes on a submerged star picket. Rusted steel slicing his digits like your kitchen knife would a mango.
It was an hour to the nearest bush hospital, so the story goes. Another three when the duty nurse shrugged "job for Dubbo Base".
A family friend dodging kangaroos on the darkening backroads as, somewhere in the back, Scott sat quietly without complaint.
It's why, during the season opener at Parramatta Stadium, Scott was first on scene when Dragons half Jamie Soward was goaded by Eels centre Timana Tahu. Same deal the following week when Bulldog Bryson Goodwin went after Darius Boyd.
No shouting or spitting. No threats or raised fists either. Just there.
Same deal when you watch him in defence. This bush boy positioned three in from the wing, and one inside playmaker Soward, so he can crunch rivals and protect his playmaker like Chris Flannery once did George Freeman.
In fact, Scott today plays for Bennett exactly as Kangaroo Tonie Carroll once did protecting Darren Lockyer, right? "Oh, mate, I'd hate to be likened to anyone, especially Carroll," he shrugs.
But as uncle Jeff says, it's all a work in progress.
Which is why Scott originally left the Dragons for Cronulla when Matt Cooper and Mark Gasnier were ahead of him. Why, as soon as his Sharks deal was up, Brown dragged him back. And why somewhere in between, a certain Melbourne coach who now oversees the NSW Origin side made a huge play for the Shire centre no one really knew.
Yep, this Beau Scott. The man Benny believes can bring down Greg Inglis. But what does the boy from Bargo make of all the fuss?
"Oh, mate, I still haven't even read the story," he shrugs. "It's not that I don't like what people write in the papers. Just don't get around to reading them, I guess. Although I have an uncle Jeff, he's keeping this scrapbook for me ... "
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/who-the-hell-is-beau-scott/story-e6frexnr-1225851552231
