Quiet achiever
Keith Galloway limbers up at Cronulla Beach yesterday.
Photo:
James Alcock
Every magician needs a prop, and for every spellbinding Marshall there's a Galloway
Glenn Jackson | April 28, 2009
GIVEN a 108 kilogram body dominated by fiery red hair and freckles and a name that suggests the ordinary, it's perhaps easy to see why Keith Galloway doesn't quite manage to dominate a headline even after he dominates a game.
Benji Marshall, possessing a much better name for such things, produced 20 minutes of magic on Sunday afternoon - he owned the day with his irresistible mix of flashness and brashness. Coach and captain lauded the magician, but they also were at pains to praise Galloway, the bloke who ensured Marshall was given every opportunity to enchant.
"I don't mind," Galloway said yesterday. "I've never been one for the limelight, anyway. I'll leave that to him. He's a good mate of mine, and I love playing with him. I'll just be happy to get the two points - although a premiership at the end of the year would be good."
Galloway might just be the antithesis of Marshall; big and powerful rather than lightweight and light on his feet. He hasn't walked down any catwalks and hasn't been handed the keys to Lotuses. There might just be more ink on his body (his last name over his heart, a cross on his right arm and a combination of the Southern Cross, a Scottish thistle and an Irish emblem on his back to signify his heritage) than there has been ink on newspaper pages screaming that Galloway has won a game for the Tigers.
Still, Galloway's shadow is beginning to loom as large over the game as it does over his loungeroom; he is one of the form front-rowers in the competition, and while Marshall set up two tries on Sunday and kicked the winning conversion, receiving the $1000 cheque for being Channel Nine man of the match, Galloway earned the dressing-room award as players' player.
"I always believed in myself that I could play to a good level but I just think hard work in the off-season
I was in the gym a lot because I had surgery on my foot, and after Christmas I started running, and once I felt comfortable doing that, I pushed it pretty hard," he said.
"Everyone always says our forward pack's not that big, but we've got a lot of guys making good yards, and our defence in the middle is improving. We're confident in what we can do.
"But it's only seven rounds into it. We've started seasons very well before, and capitulated towards of the end of the season."
While Marshall might be Sheens's special player, Galloway is his special project - being an old front-rower himself, the coach attempts to single the prop out for advice regularly.
"Tim, being an old front-rower, he's always giving me hints each week - what lines to run and defensive tips - he's been good," Galloway said.
A St George junior, Galloway was graded at Cronulla, debuting in the NRL as a 17-year-old. But as happens with many front-rowers, especially the really big boppers, he wasn't able to take full advantage of his obvious size advantage. Until now.
Galloway was last week named in the NSW 40-man squad, and says he's ready to turn that potential in the sky blue of Cronulla into a NSW jumper of the same colour.
"It's always good getting mentioned with those sort of players and that sort of stuff, but if that happens it happens - I'll just keep trying to play as good footy as I can, and if I'm good enough I'll be there," Galloway said. "I always remember watching the old Origins - plenty of late nights staying up and watching all of that. I remember all the old fights
"Once you get a good mixture of fitness, speed and strength - I'm never going to be the quickest bloke, but you've got to work on all parts of your game, and then train hard and play hard."
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/lhqnews/galloway-making-his-mark/2009/04/27/1240684400316.html
