League legend: ‘It broke me’

I have written before of the glory of Olsen Filipaina, one of the great characters of rugby league during the 1980s. The Polynesian knockabout knock’em-over Tiger centre was famous for frequently finishing a shift as a garbo at dawn, only to tear the opposition apart at Leichhardt Oval in the afternoon.

Later in his career, when he had fallen to reserve grade, he would then turn out for the Kiwis test team and tear apart the Kangaroos. A biography of Filipaina, written by Patrick Skene, was released this week, and contains an anecdote about his first training session with Balmain on January 5, 1980, a stinking hot summer’s day like mother used to make. First up, a 10-kilometre run around Leichhardt Bay.

‘‘It broke me,’’ Filipaina recounts. ‘‘All we did was play touch football and ball work in New Zealand; no one trains that hard. In Australia you have to be a long-distance runner as well as a footballer.’’

He was not the only one struggling.

‘‘While we were running, a friend of Larry Corowa’s drove his car up to us and all the boys jumped in and there was no room for me. They drove back to the Tigers and I had to finish the run and they all splashed themselves with water to make it look like they were sweating. I had the biggest throw-up ever, three or four times.’’

So shattered was he by the experience that the next day found him sitting on the steps of the Balmain Leagues Club, pleading with management. ‘‘Look, I want to go home; no one trains this hard to play league.’’

‘‘But we’ve already paid you your money!’’

In desperation, Olsen called his mother, who convinced him to stay, and he went on to live happily ever after. For what do you think the great man is doing these days? Why none other than living in Sydney, and being our fair city’s longest-serving garbo.