Like father, like son: an Origin tale
SCOTT Sattler hasn’t forgotten the first time he set eyes on Queensland’s latest Origin hero-in-the-making – those shoulders, the steely gaze, that tiny nappy.
“I remember him as a baby,” the rugby league legend says of Jarrod Wallace, a modern-day Gold Coast Titan but 25 years ago the cutest little Runaway Bay Seagull you ever did see.
“His dad was a very, very good player and because he was quite young when he started a family, Jarrod was just always around the club.”
That dad is Craig Wallace, who first pulled on a Runaway Bay jersey as a four-year-old and went on to play more than 300 games for the club.
Importantly, he’s part of a Seagulls family dynasty that d deserves to share the spotlight with their boy on the eve of his State of Origin debut.
As Seagulls Juniors president Nathan Antonik puts it: “The Wallace family is ingrained in the Runaway Bay ethos”.
There’s granddad Wayne, a life member who Sattler says “left an indelible mark” on so many players’ lives.
Then along came his boys – Craig, Jeremy and Adam – who all wore the red, white and blue with pride. And of course there’s Jarrod.
“He was only a few days old when he was at his first footy game,” Craig recalls. “He was at training, at every game, in dressing rooms.
“He got his first footy when he was three months old and as soon as he could move, he wanted to be on the field.”
Jarrod played his first game for “The Bay” when he was four. By the time he was 11, he had played his last.
“That’s when we headed to Mudgee,” Craig says of securing a player-coach role south of the border.
Then it was off to Sawtell near Coffs Harbour where father and teenage son memorably played first grade together.
Finally, after four years at Coffs, the family returned to the Gold Coast where Craig now coaches top-grade at Parkwood, including mentoring his two younger sons — both of whom have followed in Jarrod’s footsteps by playing alongside Dad.
“Craig’s kept himself fit the older he’s got and it enabled him to get to play with his boys,” says Sattler, who paired with Wallace Sr in the frontrow of the Seagulls’ unbeaten U19 side of 1990.
“We’ve always been in each other’s lives for 35 years … and I remember taking a lot more notice of Jarrod (as a footballer) when he was about 17.”
As for noticing the mark the Wallaces have left on Runaway Bay?
“They’ve always been a true-blue, working-class rugby league family,” Sattler says.
“Whenever there was a working bee, Craig’s old man would be front and centre.
“They’re good, old-fashioned league people who’d put out the corner posts if you asked them and then rush off to coach a team the same day.”
Next week Jarrod will join Sattler and the late Peter Jackson as Seagulls who have soared to the dizzying heights of State of Origin.
And while his family will be watching from the stands of Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, a bloke who once nursed him will be bursting with pride from afar.
“I’ve always loved at the start of Origin (TV coverage) where the players say the name of their junior clubs,” Sattler says.
“I felt so proud when I played and got to say ‘Scott Sattler — Runaway Bay Seagulls’ ... and I’ll feel the same pride next week when I see Jarrod’s name come up with ‘Runaway Bay’ beside it.”