All Blacks profile: Brad Thorn

By WYNNE GRAY

Under the broiling sun near Methven in mid-January, Brad Thorn was hoisted on to a fence post to catch a shoe thrown towards him repeatedly by his coach Robbie Deans.

The idea was to get Thorn moving his upper torso to simulate the twisting demands of lineout work while keeping his lower body still.

Part of the routine was gimmick, part a practical solution because the duo did not have a rugby ball with them.

That camp for the Crusaders was the start of another extraordinary season for the former Brisbane Broncos and Kangaroos forward as he repeated his push towards his All Black dream.

He had achieved his goal in 2001, although he turned down the chance of wearing black on the trip to Ireland, Scotland and Argentina. That was the stuff of legend before he disappeared from sport for a year, only to return and hear his name read out in the All Black squad this May.

"I had to work so hard to get back into the skills needed for rugby this year," Thorn said.

"The best example I can give you is that the previous year I was here, I was lifting guys in lineouts because I was a No 8, and then in the NPC I was a reserve lock and maybe had one or two lineout takes in a game.

"So when I returned two weeks before a Super 12 trial this year, Robbie got me up on a fence post throwing a shoe at me to work on my balance. This is where I have been at this year. The whole year I have been trying to keep my head above water, trying to learn the skills necessary for the level I am at.

"I feel a lot more instinctive now and that helps because I can be aggressive. You can't be aggressive when you are thinking too hard about plays or moves. It has to be natural.

"When I can push the rugby rules out of my mind and go out there and just express myself, then I know I have broken some barriers. I feel I have improved heaps there, although I am probably a bit more sensitive about that because I always see myself as this league guy trying to learn rugby.

"The first year I was here I would go into rucks because I did not want to look like an idiot, it was a good place to hide.

"You have all these sorts of insecurities. You are not just playing down at the local park, you are on a big stage."

A grab-bag of uncertainty told on Thorn in late 2001 when he turned down his initial All Black selection. Had anyone asked him beforehand, he would have declined.

When the 1.95m, 115kg lock-loose forward was picked by John Mitchell and Deans for their first tour as All Black coaches, and then withdrew, it caused a sensation in this rugby-besotted nation. It was tough for some to see the courage in the decision.

Thorn's reasons were varied. He was uncertain about staying in rugby and in Christchurch. He missed his family and the lifestyle in Queensland. He had a two-year contract with an out-clause after a season. He wanted to exercise that option.

He felt uneasy about playing for the All Blacks if he subsequently decided rugby was not for him.

Instead of taking the easy glory, Thorn called All Black manager Andrew Martin and pulled out of the side.

"In the space of 24 hours I faced more pressure than I had ever felt," he recalled.

"It was a huge call because this was the All Blacks. Imagine my state of mind having to ring up and turn down the offer. There I was taking all these phone calls from relatives congratulating me and I am thinking I do not want to go through with this."

The All Black dream could have ended there for Thorn, who was born in Mosgiel, had five years in Bannockburn in central Otago before shifting to Queensland when he was about 10.

His watchmaker father Lindsay and nursing mother Robin thought there were greater work opportunities across the Tasman and better education for Thorn and his elder brother Aaron.

While they made the move, Thorn said he always felt like a Kiwi and he continued to dream one day he would play for the All Blacks.

For a couple of years Thorn just dabbled in sport. He tried Aussie Rules, and when he shifted to a state school, he played league like the rest of the pupils.

Eventually the Broncos' head talent scout Cyril Connell spotted him and life as a professional footballer started with his first-grade debut in 1994.

"He was a gentle, soft, big bloke who loved to grin," Broncos media manager Tony Durkin. recalled.

"On the field he was one big mean mother who loved the physical confrontation. His nickname was Strongy and it was not surprising he smashed the bench-press record at the club."

Thorn remains the biggest player in the 16-year history of the Broncos and his best mates are frontrowers Shane Webke and Petero Civonoceva.

He roomed with Webke for years.

Unlike the All Blacks' random rooming arrangements, the Broncos allowed players to choose their own room-mates. "I was in the gym early on and looked at Shane. He was a big guy and didn't say much. We both got down to training and ended up as roomies."

Thorn rampaged through eight State of Origin games for Queensland, played three tests for the Kangaroos and helped the Broncos to win the 2000 grand final before he announced he was off on a Super 12 contract.

His close mates and Broncos coach Wayne Bennett had kept the secret and had given his blessing for the change in codes.

On the eve of the Kangaroos' easy win against the Kiwis in Sydney this year, Bennett was asked whether any of his three former Broncos who were to play in the Bledisloe Cup the next day, might return to league.

He thought Wendell Sailor would stay in rugby, Lote Tuqiri would return and he hoped Thorn would do likewise.

Thorn does not dismiss that possibility. His contract with Canterbury runs until the end of next year and "you can never say never."

But now he is an All Black, one committed to the code and success at the World Cup back in Australia.

During his early years growing up in Otago, Thorn and his father used to talk about playing for the province and his country. It was a common thread for a sports-mad youngster.

The dream never left Thorn, even when he lived in Queensland. He also grew closer to his dad, describing their relationship as more fraternal, and it was a huge loss when his 46-year-old father died from a heart attack in 1995.

"It was the Kiwi in me who still wanted to be an All Black and I got to thinking about it again in the early 90s when the word was out that rugby would be going professional," Thorn said.

"I used to go to Ballymore all the time to watch rugby and I was always a bit of a dreamer and I still wanted to be an All Black.

"If I was going to swap codes, I wanted to come across in my prime and have a decent shot at it. I did not want to come at the end of my career because that would not have satisfied my curiosity."

Part of Thorn's rugby fantasy involved wearing the blue jersey of the deep south with the big O on the chest.

Instead, a professional coaching relationship which had built up between Steve Hansen and Bennett delivered Thorn to the red and blacks.

His league contract at an end in 2000, Thorn made his decision.

"The Canterbury set-up seemed very similar to the Broncos and I had seen what they did with players such as Ron Cribb who went down there. Their games excelled and improved, and I was going to need all the help I could get.

"League suited my game because I was a ball-runner and tackler, but when I came to union things like the tackled-ball area was a nightmare. I was going to rucks and standing upright, I just did not know what to do."

After lurching through his opening Super 12 season, Thorn recalled a rewarding chat he had with provincial lock Steve Lancaster. The advice to Thorn was just to concentrate on hitting rucks in the NPC.

"It was strange because I could sense all these people around thinking 'who is this guy from rugby league? He's ordinary.'

"I had to put my pride aside and do it, I had to get the basics right."

By the end of that campaign Thorn felt much more comfortable with his rugby intuition. The game was starting to soak into his psyche, but he was not ready for the All Blacks, even if the national selectors thought he was.

Thorn revealed his reasons then in a rare interview for a man dubbed media-shy. He had a similar reputation at the Broncos.

"Brad was the most difficult person to get to do some media," Durkin said. "He said he would rather do a week's worth of hospital visits than go through some interviews.

"We had a roster system so he had to do them once a month, there was no way out of it. Brad was shy, but when he did the interviews he was good."

Touche Mr Durkin. Sitting down with Thorn this week in Whangarei was fascinating. He did not enjoy the limelight, but when pushed to talk was obliging. His story was largely untold, he had plenty to tell and expressed it.

Like the inspiration this massive man - someone whose entire body exudes power without a spare millimetre of excess - drew from a frail teenager he met at the Broncos.

Dean was known as the cottonwool boy. He had a life-threatening skin disorder where his tissue just peeled away from his body. Thorn, who became a Christian five years ago, formed a great bond with Dean.

The pair still speak regularly and were it not for the association with the Broncos, Dean's mother is sure her son would not be around today.

"He is a strong character, Dean. I don't want to take anything from the character that he is. He is special and shows you that being a big strong footballer or whatever, the outside stuff does not mean jack, you know," Thorn said.

"It's what's inside and it has been very humbling to know him. I have learned heaps from him just the way he goes about life and doesn't complain."

After a year away from any competitive sport last year and marriage to his art-teacher Mary-Anne, Thorn began to weigh up the rugby-league choices.

"I needed a break because I was a bit stressed out. Being the first guy in a hundred years to turn down the black jersey did not sit well with me, I had a taste of success with rugby, I had made inroads and wondered about regrets."

He ticked off a list. His All Black dream remained unfulfilled, he had begun to appreciate Christchurch and the nuances of rugby much more. Was he going to leave all that behind?

"It is not in my nature to do that, I am someone who enjoys a challenge otherwise I would never have switched codes in the first place," he said.

Fortune came with his decision to reactivate his rugby life. Fullback Ben Blair was injured and Thorn filled the vacancy in the Crusaders.

Soon after Thorn was in the middle of the South Island balancing on a fence post catching a shoe and probably wondering what this year would bring.

The Thorn file


Age: 28. Born: Mosgiel.

Height: 1.95m.

Weight: 113kg.

Position: Lock.

Test debut: v Wales, Hamilton, 2003.

Tests: 5.On his first 12 months in rugby:"The first year I was here I would go into rucks because I did not want to look like an idiot, it was a good place to hide."

Super 12 team: Crusaders.

NPC team: Canterbury.

League record: Played eight State of Origin games for Queensland and three tests for the Kangaroos.

On his decision to pull out of the All Blacks in 2001: "In the space of 24 hours I faced more pressure than I had ever felt."

On switching from league to rugby: "If I was going to swap codes, I wanted to come across in my prime and have a decent shot at it."

On why he made the move: "I am someone who enjoys a challenge, otherwise I would never have switched codes in the first place."