Respected toiler Tolar nears a ton with Knights
Brett Keeble
July 9, 2011
PATIENCE has been a virtue for loyal Knights prop Dan Tolar.
The 29-year-old Central Charlestown junior joined the Knights in 1998 and has been at the club longer than any other current player, including captain Kurt Gidley. He did not make his NRL debut until his seventh season, then it took him 15 games to experience his first win.
Tolar is due to play his 100th NRL game against North Queensland at Ausgrid Stadium on Monday night, but must prove his fitness at training this weekend to make the squad. He has recovered from the concussion he suffered in Newcastle's 14-10 victory over the Dragons last Sunday, and will tape up his stitched left eye, but he missed some training during the week as he was having antibiotic injections to treat an infected bursa in his elbow.
Coach Rick Stone will make the decision tomorrow but Tolar is preparing to play against the Cowboys on the ground where he made his debut on May 29, 2004, when he came off the bench in a 28-18 loss to the Storm.
''I remember getting jammed by Alex Chan on my first hit-up,'' he laughed.
Tolar played another four games that year, all losses, then suffered through most of the club-record, 13-game losing streak to start their 2005 campaign before being part of a drought-breaking 28-24 victory over Penrith. Some 392 days after his NRL debut, he got to sing their victory song for the first time.
''It was a tough first 13 rounds prior to that but to get the win there, it felt like we'd won a grand final,'' he said.
Growing up idolising Paul Harragon, Tony Butterfield and Mark Sargent, Tolar said he never envisaged playing 100 games for the Knights, but felt proud to be within sight of the milestone. ''I'll be a bit more excited because it is my 100th game but I don't think I'll be approaching it any differently - it's just another game we want to win,'' he said. ''I grew up wanting to play for the Knights
but when I made my debut, I was never worried about how many games I was going to play, I just wanted to go out there and play well and hopefully keep my spot, and it's the same now, so to play 100 games, I'm happy to do that.''
Tolar is contracted until the end of next year. Whether he plays on beyond that would depend on how his body felt, he said. He shattered his kneecap in the first game of 2009, and that injury wiped out the rest of that season and is one with which he still struggles.
Stone said Tolar was one of the club's most highly regarded representatives, as a player and an ambassador within the community. ''He's well liked and well respected, as far as what he stands for and what he wants the rest of the players to live up to, on and off the field,'' Stone said. ''He's part of our leadership group and sets the standards. He's a gatekeeper for our standards right across the board, through to our under-16s, 18s and 20s, so he has a big interest in the club at all levels. He has a lot of time for the place and is really respectful of what the Knights have done for him, and I'd like to think we're the same.''
