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Parramatta five-eighth Daniel Mortimer is Craig Bellamy's type of player, which makes it especially galling for the Storm coach that the little five-eighth was once on scholarship to Melbourne.
Yet, if Brett Finch - Mortimer's opponent in Sunday's grand final - had not been released from Parramatta earlier this year, would Mortimer be starting the game? It's a question that will have more relevance if the Eels win the premiership with Mortimer because the Storm have been searching for a long-term five-eighth since Scott Hill left.
Mortimer, who recently turned 20, spent the 2006 off-season with the Storm, attending training camps, but was then released to play S.G. Ball for the Eels. Asked why Melbourne allowed Mortimer to slip away, Bellamy said, ''You'll have to ask 'Sully','' referring to the Storm's then recruitment officer, Peter O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan is regarded as the NRL's best talent scout, having signed Greg Inglis and Israel Folau to the Storm, yet Mortimer would appear to be the one who got away.
''Logistics'', is O'Sullivan's one-word reason for Mortimer's release. ''Because his parents lived in Orange, Parramatta was so much closer. He could drive up to Parramatta on the Saturday, only a two-hour trip, play S.G. Ball, and go home the next day. If we'd signed him to a contract, we would have had to relocate him to Brisbane to play in our feeder team.''
But Inglis and Folau were resettled in Brisbane, so why not Mortimer?
''He wasn't on the agenda then,'' O'Sullivan conceded, while resisting the urge to say no other sport requires its talent pickers to forecast as far ahead as Nostradamus. ''The standout point about him was he was such a competitor.''
Translation: he was too small, or too slow, or not overly skillful.
''He was tiny, a midget,'' O'Sullivan said of the 79 kilogram No.6, before adding, ''And he hasn't put a lot [of weight] on since.''
Didn't the scouts say that about his uncle, half Steve Mortimer, Canterbury's greatest ever player?
''An endurance athlete is how you would describe him,'' O'Sullivan said, adding, ''I'd have to say he's the sort of player 'Bellyache' [Bellamy] loves.''
Bellamy agrees, saying: ''He was with us for a while. A good style of kid. He trained hard. He was a low-maintenance player. He went about his business without any fanfare and worked hard. He's my type of player. I can see why he's doing well. I'm not sure why Sully didn't go on with him.''
http://www.smh.com.au/news/lhqnews/...et-him-gobellamy/2009/09/29/1253989913634.htm
Yet, if Brett Finch - Mortimer's opponent in Sunday's grand final - had not been released from Parramatta earlier this year, would Mortimer be starting the game? It's a question that will have more relevance if the Eels win the premiership with Mortimer because the Storm have been searching for a long-term five-eighth since Scott Hill left.
Mortimer, who recently turned 20, spent the 2006 off-season with the Storm, attending training camps, but was then released to play S.G. Ball for the Eels. Asked why Melbourne allowed Mortimer to slip away, Bellamy said, ''You'll have to ask 'Sully','' referring to the Storm's then recruitment officer, Peter O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan is regarded as the NRL's best talent scout, having signed Greg Inglis and Israel Folau to the Storm, yet Mortimer would appear to be the one who got away.
''Logistics'', is O'Sullivan's one-word reason for Mortimer's release. ''Because his parents lived in Orange, Parramatta was so much closer. He could drive up to Parramatta on the Saturday, only a two-hour trip, play S.G. Ball, and go home the next day. If we'd signed him to a contract, we would have had to relocate him to Brisbane to play in our feeder team.''
But Inglis and Folau were resettled in Brisbane, so why not Mortimer?
''He wasn't on the agenda then,'' O'Sullivan conceded, while resisting the urge to say no other sport requires its talent pickers to forecast as far ahead as Nostradamus. ''The standout point about him was he was such a competitor.''
Translation: he was too small, or too slow, or not overly skillful.
''He was tiny, a midget,'' O'Sullivan said of the 79 kilogram No.6, before adding, ''And he hasn't put a lot [of weight] on since.''
Didn't the scouts say that about his uncle, half Steve Mortimer, Canterbury's greatest ever player?
''An endurance athlete is how you would describe him,'' O'Sullivan said, adding, ''I'd have to say he's the sort of player 'Bellyache' [Bellamy] loves.''
Bellamy agrees, saying: ''He was with us for a while. A good style of kid. He trained hard. He was a low-maintenance player. He went about his business without any fanfare and worked hard. He's my type of player. I can see why he's doing well. I'm not sure why Sully didn't go on with him.''
http://www.smh.com.au/news/lhqnews/...et-him-gobellamy/2009/09/29/1253989913634.htm
