Rugby League: A punishing role at No 6

By PETER JESSUP

The selection of Willie Talau as starting five-eighth for the Kiwis shocked most people, not least Talau himself.

"I was happy just to be in the squad, I didn't think they would pick anyone from premier league," Talau said.

There's the suggestion he is being punished by the Bulldogs who are playing him in the reserve grade because he has signed to go to St Helens.

It's not something the 27-year-old father-of-four wanted to talk about this week, except to say he wasn't giving up hope of forcing his way back into the top side.

Which in itself might be motivation to perform well.

Talau has other motivations. He wants to prove he can carry the No 6 jersey and he doesn't want to let anyone down.

He was a five-eighth in junior grades in Taranaki and was the six for the Junior Kiwis in 1995.

He played there as fill-in for the Dogs in 1999 and has since been solidly in the centres.

Talau climbed through the Taranaki grades to rep football, wrote to the Warriors and asked for a trial, but didn't get any response. He tried the Dogs, who had him playing top grade by the latter stages of the 1998 season, and he's been a standout for them ever since, bashing holes in opposition backlines and crash-tackling.

This season he has had injury problems, most recently tearing the medial ligament of his left knee. He was making a return through reserve grade when he strained it again, missed two weekends, then came back for the Dogs against the Sharks at Cronulla last Saturday night - in front of the new Kiwis coach and ahead of the Warriors-Cronulla game.

Daniel Anderson said Talau's name had been tossed into the ring as a serious five-eighth contender only in the past fortnight.

"He gives us strike power," the Kiwis coach said. And spot-tackling that smashes opposition attackers and stops momentum.

The six jersey was a targeted one and he needed someone strong, Anderson said. He and fellow selectors Tony Kemp and Brent Todd had not deliberately followed the New South Wales State of Origin selection with Shaun Timmins moved inside because of his strength.

"But it didn't go unnoticed," Anderson said of how well that worked for the Blues.

Talau was confident he was up to it and encouraged by the form of Timmins at No 6.

He was looking forward to running off the back of the big forwards.

He is expecting a fairly simple role - busting the line - "I don't expect to be throwing three-man cut-out passes."

He will leave the aerial kicking to Stacey Jones and Richard Swain. He has a short grubber in use for the Dogs and has been taking special instruction from former Kiwi five-eighth Kemp and advice from backs specialist James Leuluai.

"I'll take any advice I can get ... I'm thinking of ringing up Braith [Anasta, Dogs six]," he joked.

Talau was relaxed this week, despite being the centre of attention. He has had a bad time in the spotlight individually and with the team in recent times - belatedly accused of a sexual assault alleged to have occurred while he was a teenager in Taranaki, but later cleared in court, then the mess of the Bulldogs' salary cap scandal that ultimately is the reason for his departure.

He will take wife Kristy and Emily, 10, Lachlan, 4, Tommy, 3, and Cooper, 19 months, to the cold north of England. And he's not giving up hope of holding a Kiwis jersey, six or otherwise.

Willie Talau

Born: 25/1/76 in Apia, Western Samoa.

Raised in Taranaki.

Height: 179cm.

Weight: 92kg.

NRL debut v Souths at Aussie Stadium, July 1998.

Tests: 11. Debut v Australia, Anzac test 1999, Stadium Australia.