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"I SUPPOSE I was fired up, trying to smash as many as I could". New Sydney resident Ryan Williamson is yet to play a game for the Roosters, but the teenager is already a big hit. Literally.
Gallery: Are these the hottest bods in league? l / The Daily Telegraph
YOU may not have heard of Ryan Williamson yet but up in the Queensland bush, he has made something of an impact on local juniors. As in, call-for-the-stretcher impact.
Take the much-told story in Mackay - Williamson's home town - of the day the teenage Roosters centre began reducing the numbers of the opposition under-19 Proserpine team one by one playing for Souths.
As the tale goes, a first guy ran the ball up, got belted head over apex by Williamson and had to be helped off. Next play, same deal. Second guy off.
Next play, third guy. Next play . . . well, you get the idea.
Gallery: NRL hot bods
In all, Williamson gave four consecutive rivals four early showers, and a St John ambo a fitness session, as he impersonated a one-man wrecking ball. "Aah, yeah," Williamson sheepishly confirms when asked about the story. "A guy took a tap and I guess I hit him in the right spot. He went off.
"A bloke played the ball and I gave it him, too. I suppose I was fired up, trying to smash as many as I could."
Gallery: NRL stars get nude
Such bush whispers usually have scouts swarming but luckily for Roosters fans, Williamson was already on their club's radar and after an impressive 2008, is now tucked away at Bondi until 2011.
After starring for the Australian Schoolboys in 2007, the 18-year-old helped the tricolours win the SG Ball Grand Final last year - and snag the competition's best and fairest - before succumbing to a season-ending knee injury in his first appearance for the Roosters under-20s.
Check out the highlights:
Much is expected of a teen already likened to Ryan Cross. But yesterday Williamson was back in familiar territory - the Queensland outback - making a different kind of impact.
Tagging along with another Rooster on the comeback trail from a busted knee, Willie Mason, Williamson visited schools in Mount Isa as part of the NRL's One Community Carnival - which currently has 100 players in 50 communities around Australia promoting healthy lifestyles and league to kids.
It was a almost surreal role for the young Rooster. "I am only 18 and it wasn't too long ago I was sitting at one of those school desks, with first grade blokes like Mark O'Meley and Nate Myles talking to me," he said. "If I am on the verge of a career in footy today, it must have had some impact on me. I am sure these visits do have an impact on young kids."
Today the small group of NRL stars will venture further north into territory Williamson knows better still.
His dad Craig works as a builder in a tiny Aboriginal community outside of Doomadgee, which lies on the Gulf of Carpentaria. "I love it up here, it's my favourite part of the country," Williamson said. "I visited dad two months ago and we did a bit of piggin' and a bit of fishin' and stuff like that."
Having traded destinations with a teammates to go north, extensive flooding may stop Williamson from catching up with his dad.
Williamson knows the trip is one part of a valuable learning process this season that will see him play strongly in Toyota Cup, "earn my stripes" and perhaps push for an NRL debut as well. He's keen to make an impact.
Text size+-
Gallery: Are these the hottest bods in league? l / The Daily Telegraph
YOU may not have heard of Ryan Williamson yet but up in the Queensland bush, he has made something of an impact on local juniors. As in, call-for-the-stretcher impact.
Take the much-told story in Mackay - Williamson's home town - of the day the teenage Roosters centre began reducing the numbers of the opposition under-19 Proserpine team one by one playing for Souths.
As the tale goes, a first guy ran the ball up, got belted head over apex by Williamson and had to be helped off. Next play, same deal. Second guy off.
Next play, third guy. Next play . . . well, you get the idea.
Gallery: NRL hot bods
In all, Williamson gave four consecutive rivals four early showers, and a St John ambo a fitness session, as he impersonated a one-man wrecking ball. "Aah, yeah," Williamson sheepishly confirms when asked about the story. "A guy took a tap and I guess I hit him in the right spot. He went off.
"A bloke played the ball and I gave it him, too. I suppose I was fired up, trying to smash as many as I could."
Gallery: NRL stars get nude
Such bush whispers usually have scouts swarming but luckily for Roosters fans, Williamson was already on their club's radar and after an impressive 2008, is now tucked away at Bondi until 2011.
After starring for the Australian Schoolboys in 2007, the 18-year-old helped the tricolours win the SG Ball Grand Final last year - and snag the competition's best and fairest - before succumbing to a season-ending knee injury in his first appearance for the Roosters under-20s.
Check out the highlights:
Much is expected of a teen already likened to Ryan Cross. But yesterday Williamson was back in familiar territory - the Queensland outback - making a different kind of impact.
Tagging along with another Rooster on the comeback trail from a busted knee, Willie Mason, Williamson visited schools in Mount Isa as part of the NRL's One Community Carnival - which currently has 100 players in 50 communities around Australia promoting healthy lifestyles and league to kids.
It was a almost surreal role for the young Rooster. "I am only 18 and it wasn't too long ago I was sitting at one of those school desks, with first grade blokes like Mark O'Meley and Nate Myles talking to me," he said. "If I am on the verge of a career in footy today, it must have had some impact on me. I am sure these visits do have an impact on young kids."
Today the small group of NRL stars will venture further north into territory Williamson knows better still.
His dad Craig works as a builder in a tiny Aboriginal community outside of Doomadgee, which lies on the Gulf of Carpentaria. "I love it up here, it's my favourite part of the country," Williamson said. "I visited dad two months ago and we did a bit of piggin' and a bit of fishin' and stuff like that."
Having traded destinations with a teammates to go north, extensive flooding may stop Williamson from catching up with his dad.
Williamson knows the trip is one part of a valuable learning process this season that will see him play strongly in Toyota Cup, "earn my stripes" and perhaps push for an NRL debut as well. He's keen to make an impact.
