Brimson was born with the magic touch
MAROONS fullback AJ Brimson’s rapid transformation from student of the game to the face of an NRL club in just five years came as no surprise to the coach who watched him terrorise opposition defences on Keebra Park’s touch football team.
It was in that arena that Brimson’s sidestep, acceleration and sense for breaking the line was first honed. All he lacked was size and tackling practice, and once acquired there was no doubting how far he could go, according to coach Peter Norman.
“It was really good watching AJ come through the touch scene,” he said.
“We could definitely see him growing into what he is now. He had so much ability and x-factor. He was always going to be a superstar.
“Compared to footy, touch is an extremely fast sport. You’ve got to do all those same skills in terms of your attack, your decision-making, catch-and-pass but at a much higher speed so you go back into footy playing a step or two faster than anyone.
“You’re making those same decisions using those same skills but you can do it a lot faster than anyone else, and that’s AJ to a tee.”
Brimson’s Origin debut in November was far from his first taste of life in Queensland colours, with state touch football representative honours stretching back to 2011 as an Under-12.
He is one of a star-studded class of touch talent to graduate into the NRL including Kalyn Ponga, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Shaun Johnson, Matt Moylan and Titans teammate Ash Taylor.