Rugby League: Despite the knees, prop's no crock

By Peter Jessup

When the news broke that the Warriors had signed prop Terry Hermansson to replace Quentin Pongia, the leaners in Kingsland's Oak and Black Dog and other pubs around town wondered why, given his age and bad knees.

Now the 110kg, barrel-like Hermansson owns the pub, and no one in the bar would question his right to be anywhere he wanted.

But it is respect for the football skills he brought to the club and his country this year rather than respect for his size that changed the minds of the bar-room critics.

Hermansson, who turns 32 on Monday and is the oldest man in either squad with three years over new skipper Richie Barnett and fellow front-rower Craig Smith and two years on the oldest Australians in Darren Britt and Darren Smith, is proud of what he has done for Auckland and the Kiwis - and more than a little put-out by all the attention his knees receive.

While he can still carry four Australians, make 10m, teach the young players coming through something and feel he is contributing, he would keep going, he said, with a year left on his contract.

The unexpected call-up to the test squad for the tri-series that starts at Ericsson Stadium next Friday night came at the expense of captain Pongia's injury. But Hermansson has grabbed it with both hands despite the pressure on those bad knees.

"It's the greatest privilege playing for your country. Frank {Endacott] has stuck by me and now I just want to deliver for him."

Hermansson is not your flashy off-loader, he is never going to run in a try from 40m, and when he throws a long pass which is intercepted, it's goodnight nurse because he will not catch the poacher.

But he starts every set of six with a guaranteed gain, is rarely turned in a tackle and gets away quick play-the-balls to allow his side to get on the advantage roll.

In a game where front-rowers carry titles bestowed to intimidate like "Axe" and "Cement," Hermansson earned the moniker "the Rock" from his Warriors' mates. The Rock blunts axes and cracks cement, you could argue.

And he does not miss tackles, drop the ball, or give up when the Warriors are behind.

Hermansson is embarrassed about the attention his knees get because they are not that bad and all the talk of injections and fluid drains and painkillers is over the top, he says.

He is under-rating it. Hermans-son's problem is common to league players, particularly props. He has no gristle in the kneecap and bone rubs on bone. He has had numerous arthroscopes, he sometimes has a local anaesthetic before a game, and he has had a course of gel injections over three weeks to put a cushion between the bones, he said.

Okay, it was one course in one knee and two in the other. And yes, he does have to pack his knees with ice for half-an-hour after training, longer after a game. It was the sort of thing that encouraged Newcastle tough guy Paul Harragon to retire this year at 29.

"All this stuff makes me look like a crock. My knees are all right, I'm still enjoying it. Sure, it's just about time to hang up the boots but I've had a good year and I'm still able to teach a couple of things to the young blokes."

Hermansson played under Endacott at Canterbury then took his chances in Sydney, with stints at Souths broken by time with Sydney City. He signed for Adelaide but never played as the club was axed, and he joined the Warriors.

With 135 premiership games since 1993, he is one of their most experienced players.

And with 21 starts and three from the interchange bench in a 24-game season this year, the guy with the bad knees, the one who was too old, was one of the most consistent.

His performance won him the clubman-of-the-year trophy. It was typical that he cut his acceptance speech short with the comment that if he had been told he was the winner and had to speak, he would have gone slower on the beer.

After a first test against Papua New Guinea in 1994, Hermansson missed out for three years, came back for the Anzac and October's first test last year and was ruled out of the last tests because of the knees.

He is certainly not taking Australia lightly but perceives a chink in the usually impenetrable armour due to the unprecedented number of retirements and withdrawals from the Kangaroo squad.

"They'll be more vulnerable with blokes coming in making their debuts [four of them, plus six who have played only Super League tests]."

Then he notes that the Kiwis have blooded much new talent over the past 12 months and all the new blood is running strongly.

"The Aussies don't generally get intimidated but we'll be putting the pressure on, we've got a big pack with plenty of experience and hopefully we'll force the errors."

It's not ideal to have to assemble the team from far-flung parts but the extra NRL experience available to the Kiwis now puts them in a position to compete with the Kangaroos on a level playing field, he said.

"Definitely," he answers when asked if the Kiwis can win this game "even if the Aussies play to the best of their ability. It's going to be sooner rather than later that we get a series off them."