Rugby league: Billy - the kid from up north

By PETER JESSUP

It's a long road from the hard, dry grounds where the Innisfail Leprechauns run around in north Queensland to the Melbourne Storm's Olympic Park stadium but new fullback Billy Slater has covered it in record time.

Slater, 20, is the most exciting back to emerge from the Australian league competition this year.

He is used to quick runs to the top.

Last season he was the "Back of the Year" in the Queensland Cup and he was on debut there, too.

It is just two years since he went from showjumping in the local competition in small-town Innisfail to riding trackwork for top trainer Gai Waterhouse on Australia's best racecourse at Randwick.

That came about because he was only going to school to eat his lunch, was hanging with the wrong crowd.

"I wanted to leave [fifth form] and my parents said I could if I had a job."

His dad Ronnie "loves a punt" and knew all the local trainers. That and a connection he had through showjumping led to Sydney and early-morning trackwork at the city's premier track.

"I loved it. It was exciting, all the big names around you. I still love my horses and I ride whenever I get a chance," Slater said.

He was always going to be too heavy to be a jockey.

And at age 18 Sydney was too big. He got homesick, went back to Innisfail, north of Brisbane, and started playing his boyhood game of league for the local club again. He was straight into state age-group rep teams.

Early in 2001 he and a cousin decided to trial for Brisbane Norths and made the 20-hour drive south. He was noticed from the start.

Last year he stayed in Brisbane with former Storm player Wade Fenton, riding trackwork for Sydney trainer Miles Plumb at Eagle Farm as his main source of income.

Everything from trackwork to his other loves, golf and surfing, have been sidelined since the Storm shifted him south as injury fill-in and now the city's league fans do not even remember that the regular fullback was a guy called Robbie Ross.

Slater has been in Melbourne all year, playing 18 out of 19 games so far. Scoring tries has eased any homesickness this time. In his debut year in the NRL Slater is fourth on the four-pointer list with 15 touchdowns, including five doubles. Veteran backs Matt Sing at the Cowboys and Penrith's Rhys Wesser are top with 17.

It was a 32-try performance in the tough Queensland Cup that earned him a trial from feeder club Norths and it was injury to regularly-troubled Ross that opened a spot at the Storm.

He is a great broken-play runner with good vision to see the breaks coming - and he can see a break in the No 1 jersey.

"I'm not here to fill in for anyone," he said.

The club agrees, signing him to the end of next year.

New Storm coach Craig Bellamy is the first to really dissect Slater's play and offer improvement. He gives the fullback plenty of leeway and Slater likes that.

"Craig hasn't tried to force me into a structured game at all. I've got lots of freedom. He tells me that if I think I can go for it, I should."

His secret is backing up.

"I just follow the good players around - Matty Orford (halfback), Stephen Kearney (captain), they're always looking to get a pass away and I just try and get myself there to be on it. If you back up the good players you'll score tries."

His exploits have brought plenty of coverage, especially in one-team town Melbourne where all the big names have been buy-ins. Slater takes it casually.

"I've gone the whole season game by game and it's the same now. The team goal is the finals, my personal goal is to get picked again for the next game. I'm happy with my year but it's not over yet and I want to play really well into the finals."

Bellamy had done a good job uniting the team disjointed months of disharmony between previous coaches and management and the culture in the side was now strong.

He thought the time he had off football did him good, sharpened his game and desire to make it to the top.

"I'd played football right through since I was four. I needed a change. Now it all feels fresh again."

There is no steady girlfriend, he flats with Storm team-mates Ryan Hoffman and Cameron Smith, with whom he shares the same birthday, both turning 20 on June 18 this year. He aims to match Smith's achievement in making the Queensland State of Origin side.

But at the top of Slater's mind is the game against the Warriors at Ericsson Stadium tomorrow night.

"I've never played them. I've never been to New Zealand, or anywhere overseas. It's going to be a big weekend."

Inside track

Name: Billy Slater

Position: Halfback/fullback/wing

Height: 182cm

Weight: 87kg

Born: 18/6/83, Nambour, Queensland

Junior club: Innisfail Leprechauns from age four

Senior club: Brisbane Norths 2001, Queensland Cup 'Back of the Year.'

NRL debut: For Melbourne v Sharks, first round this year.

18 games this season. 15 tries

NRL points table and fixtures