Another present from Gus
LAST year the Cronulla Sharks made a point of thanking Phil Gould after their historic grand final victory for providing Clive Churchill Medal winner Luke Lewis.
The Cowboys are likely to do the same next weekend if five-eighth Te Maire Martin has a blinder against Melbourne Storm at ANZ Stadium in the decider.
Without Gould’s very generous midyear release of the dashing playmaker, the Cowboys wouldn’t be playing next Sunday evening.
And the remarkable part is that the Cowboys are paying him only $50,000 for 2017 – the rest of it covered by Gus’ chequebook at the Panthers.
I watch Fox Sports instead of Channel Nine for the advertisement-free coverage but they tell me Gus remained silent inside the commentary box as Martin cut through to score his wonderful solo try in the 24th minute on Saturday night.
He chipped in and said how happy he was during the replay. Happy? How about embarrassed.
Next thing they’ll be changing his name from Gus to Santa Claus.
Not that Cowboys coach Paul Green is complaining being gifted such a special talent.
Green still clearly remembers the morning in mid-June when the phone call came from Martin’s agent.
“I was driving to work about 7am,” he explains. “My phone rings and it’s his manager asking if we’ve got any interest in Te Maire.
“I said, ‘bloody oath, we do’. We had the deal done the next day. That’s how keen we were.”
It was the weekend Penrith had a bye and the rookie five-eighth had booked a flight to New Zealand for a break with his family.
“To his credit he cancelled the plane ticket and came straight to Townsville,” Green said, “It gave us a very good early indication of how keen he was.”
Turns out it was a double favour from Gould because it was only James Tamou’s move to the Penrith Panthers that meant there was enough space in the Cowboys salary cap to accommodate Martin.
Plus the opportunity to learn from Johnathan Thurston.
“I’m his coach but JT has been fantastic with him,” Green said, “He has a quiet word to him before games and it’s obviously been beneficial.
“A big part of the attraction of him coming here was to learn from J.T.”
The Cowboys had interest in Martin long before the phone call.
“We had a crack when he was leaving the Wests Tigers,” Green said, “but Gus got under our guard.
“So it wasn’t a hard decision when his manager rang. It’s been a huge bonus.
“The try he scored was a big play for a kid in a semi-final to back himself like he did.”
On Sunday he’s up against another cracking young five-eighth in Cameron Munster. It will be one of the highlights of the grand final. Two superconfident youngsters.
Yesterday morning I texted the great Gus Gould.
“Any regrets about letting Te Maire Martin go.”
No reply. I guess it’s hard to admit it when you’re wrong – especially two years in a row.