Rugby League: Thanks for everything, says departing hooker

By PETER JESSUP

Jason Death is sad about having to leave his "Death Row" and other fans, and about leaving the Warriors when they look as though they are going to be a real force in the NRL.

He is proud of what he has done for the Auckland club, is keen to do more as the run to the playoffs continues, and recognises this may be his last chance at finals football.

And as a measure of what a nice bloke he is, one of the things at the forefront of his mind yesterday - as well as forcing his way back into the top side, sending his property back to Australia and wondering who his new South Sydney team-mates might be - was getting writer's cramp from sending out thank-you cards.

"The response since the news came out that I was going has been awesome - people ringing me up and saying they don't want me to go and wishing me well," Death said.

He admits to having had a huge headache on Wednesday as the transfer deal was being done.

"All the to-ing and fro-ing - it was a relief when it was done."

And in the end he is happy to go because he has a two-year contract, which gives another season above the one he had to go in Auckland.

At the Warriors, he would have been a back-up player, sent to the Bartercard Cup competition, and the target for some clown who wants to make a name for himself.

From the club's point of view, his salary of around $220,000 can be distributed to three up-and-comers.

He is not bitter. His career was rejuvenated after Mark Graham, then the incoming Warriors coach, called him into the side.

He was a crowd favourite. Then, in round six, Rodney Howe, returning from a 22-week ban for steroid use, smashed Death's jaw in a bad tackle. Howe was suspended for two weeks. Death was out for eight.

Other than that, a game missed after a gashed forearm this season and the last two matches, when he was officially "rested," Death has been there for the Warriors.

He started his career in 1991, aged 20, with Canberra.

Today, Death is on standby to play if Ivan Cleary's back injury denies the fullback the chance of going to Sydney for the game against Penrith on Sunday.

That would be Death's 156th premiership game and 53rd for the Warriors, for whom he has scored 11 tries out of his NRL total of 22.

"I thought I'd be here two years and it's been three," said the happy hooker, not smiling his usual smile as he settled his departure.

He knows he has been outplayed recently in his specialist position.

"Monty [Betham] got me - and good luck to him. I'm not happy with my game at the moment," he said, acknowledging that he had missed some one-on-one tackles. "I'll work on that."

He is excited about joining the Rabbitohs as the foundation club and first champions - 1908 and 1909 - rejoin the competition.

"I have to do the hard yards again," he said, leaving the Warriors after doing just that with them through their troubled times.

"That's okay. [Souths] are rebuilding as the Warriors were."

Meantime, Death is staying focused for what he believes will be a shot at semifinals football as the Warriors close on the playoffs.

* Two referees will be used in tomorrow's clash between North Queensland and Canberra.

Both clubs have approved a trial of interchange referees at Townsville's Dairy Farmers Stadium.

The two whistleblowers, Steve Clark and Shayne Hayne, will switch control six times during the match.

Referees' coach Peter Louis said Clark would start the game and control it for about 15 minutes.

Hayne would then take over for about 15 minutes before Clark returned for the final 10 minutes of the first half.

"That would be the same in the second half," Louis said.

He said referees tended to make mistakes at the end of each half when they were tired.

Tomorrow's match was chosen because neither team had a hope of making the finals.

Louis said he hoped to try a second model, using two referees simultaneously, before the season was over, but added that there were no plans at this stage to implement either model next year.