Gallen flies the flag for Aussie star track rider

BEFORE she carries the flag for Australia in Rio, Paul Gallen will, not for the first time, get in touch with Anna Meares.

‘‘I’ll be watching very keenly, hoping she can medal again,’’ Gallen said of the track cycling star. ‘‘Hopefully she’ll win gold for Australia.’’

On the surface, the pair have little in common. Meares is involved in an individual sport, while Gallen plays alongside 16 team-mates. It’s unlikely theNSW skipper hops on a bike unless he’s warming up or down. Then there’s the small matter about Meares being a staunch Queenslander.

Yet, when he had to interview three people during a leadership course as part of his penance for that infamous tweet aimed at the NRL, Gallen turned to Meares. In his two other subjects, Adam Goodes and Steve Waugh, the NSW skipper had two exemplars of leadership, sustained performance and overcoming adversity. In Meares, he got all that and more.

‘‘I wanted to get her take on how she dealt with public image, going out with friends and whatnot,’’ Gallen said.

‘‘In an individual sport you can’t hide anywhere, it’s all by yourself. If something goes wrong, you’ve got no excuses, so I wanted to see how she dealt with it.

‘‘She said she had to pick and choose her times [to socialise] wisely and, more importantly, pick who she is with. People who she can trust, who won’t lead her astray. Even if she’s starting to have too good a night, they will rein her in.

‘‘She’s done exceptionally well to be where she is and there hasn’t been a mark against her name. I still haven’t worked that part of it out.’’

There were other lessons to be learnt. You don’t recover from a broken neck to go to a fourth Olympics, as a flag bearer no less, unless you put it on the line. Perhaps the advice that resonated with Gallen most was this: you have to put yourself into positions in which you can fail, but also succeed.

‘‘I know exactly what she means by that,’’ Gallen said.

‘‘As an individual, I often do things and say things that put me out there, so I totally understand what she means by that. You want to be people’s friends, you want to associate with people, but she said you have to pick and choose those people wisely.’’