Cactus' WCC diary

[Bourbon Rat]

Haha awesome work, solid read. I agree with the hero fax idea, we need a line to vent our looorve.

Emailed the club a couple of days ago to thank them for Cactus's Diary & to put forward the fax / email idea.

NO REPLY 

[nacho]

DAY 7 - RUN OF THE MILL


Today was probably the most boring day of the tour. It started in the morning with a weights session at Leeds Met University for the backs, then the forwards, followed by lunch back at the hotel.


About the most exciting thing that happened today was the fact there was something different to eat at lunch! Instead of the usual bread and sandwich ingredients, there were actually hamburgers and buns on offer. Woo-hoo! Needless to say they were snapped in a hurry and not everyone got to have one. Boo-hoo!


After lunch there were a succession of meetings followed by a short bus ride to South Leeds Stadium. Once again the blue skies and mild weather that greeted us as we boarded the bus were replaced with grey skies, rain and icy wind when we arrived at the venue. To be honest it made us feel right at home back in Melbourne such was the change. The only difference this time was I remembered my gloves and beanie. Great result.


Once again the boys put in a terrific session, and things are looking good for Friday night.


Back at the hotel, and for something different, we had dinner in the hotel restaurant instead of the team room...which is about 15 metres from the restaurant. Who comes up with these wacky ideas?


Tomorrow there is a press conference where Craig Bellamy, along with Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Steve Turner, will meet the opposition for the first time. It should be interesting to see what the mood is at Elland Road when the two camps are finally standing face to face.

[Cronk7]

DAY 8 - AUSTRALIAN IDOL AT FEATHERSTONE


Again the day started with the boys having a weights session in the morning at Leeds Met University.


After the backs had finished their session (they went first), I picked up Billy Slater, Steve Turner and Cooper Cronk and drove them to Elland Road Stadium for a joint press conference with Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McLennan, and several of their players, including their captain Kevin Sinfield.


Upon our arrival we were greeted by a throng of media, and the first 10-15 minutes were spent with the players doing one-on-one interviews with radio, TV and newspaper media. Then it was down to business. Craig Bellamy and Cooper joined McLennan and Sinfield at the press conference table for what I thought would be a lengthy interrogation. What transpired couldn’t have been further form the truth. The media manager for the Rugby Football League (RFL), Andrew Whitelam, introduced the representatives of both clubs and gave the media some information which may come in handy. Then it was over to the English media. Stone cold silence. No-one said anything for what seemed like an eternity. Finally someone asked a question that was so mind numbingly boring that continued silence would have been more exciting. About three questions and four minutes later the major part of the media gathering was over. What a waste of time that was. Andrew’s introduction went for a longer period of time. The media were just waiting to get the coaches and the players alone again so they could ask the questions they wanted to ask without having other members of the media getting the answers. The formal press conference part was totally unnecessary. Oh well, we live and learn.


After a few more one-on-one interviews I took Cooper outside to be photographed with Sinfield and the World Club Challenge trophy. Talk about bedlam. There was probably 8-10 photographers there, but you could have sworn there were 100. They were swarming all over each other to take their pictures, when all they really had to do was wait their turn in an orderly fashion and everyone would have got what they wanted. Typical English photographers I guess where they have to make everything a circus, even the tamest of photo shoots.


After we left Elland Road Stadium we went before to the hotel to prepare for the afternoon’s training session. The session took place at Featherstone Rugby League Club, a club steeped in great tradition that has fallen on difficult times. Once a mighty club that has won Challenge Cup finals at Wembley amongst other prestigious titles, they are now in the division below Super League with very little chance of playing in the top league again. One staunch supporter told me they had earned the right to play in the Super League when it first started, but the powers that be decided they needed a team from Paris and a team form London in the competition so Featherstone was left out. As there’s only a fraction of the money in the lower leagues compared to the Super League there’s little chance of small clubs playing regularly with the big boys again.


The training session itself was a combined session with Hull R.L.F.C, and it must have been the windiest day of all time! It was so windy the goal posts were bending at angles I've never seen before, and I would have sworn the lights on the light towers were about to come down. Luckily they didn't! Once again the players acquitted themselves well and it looks like the team is gearing themselves up to peak at just the right time.


After the session, several of the players had to perform punishments for various offences committed during the week. The players have a system where if they are late for a pool recovery session, late for a massage, late for a team meeting, and other similar offences, they must pay a small fine into the player’s kitty and perform a punishment. They can be stuck with one of four punishments - collect everyone’s dirty laundry and take it down to the dirty laundry basket, shave and/or bleach their hair, wear Storm clothing to a casual event, or sing in a public place on command. After the session, without notice, Billy Slater, Sam Tagataese, Sika Manu and Israel Folau were told they had to sing in front of the two playing squads, as well as the people who had come to the ground to watch them play. It was must-see viewing; highly entertaining stuff.


First up were Billy and Sam who teamed up to sing “Twist and Shout” by the Beatles, although they changed the words, taking the mickey out of a couple of their teammates as they went. Once they were done Sika and Israel teamed up to sing “My Girl” by The Temptations complete with dance moves that would put even the biggest boy bands to shame. It was great stuff and everyone got a laugh out of it.


After signing some autographs and having a few photos taken, we headed back to Leeds for dinner, and to work out what the plan was for tomorrow. It’s a day off tomorrow so the players are all going in different directions. One group is going to do some shopping in Manchester at the Trafford Centre, another is going to do some sight-seeing in York, while another group is going to stay in Leeds and rest.


Should be an interesting day.

[Cronk7]

DAY 9 - THE DAY THE EARTH SHOOK


A very strange thing happened this morning. At about 1:00am England was subjected to an earthquake the likes of which hadn’t been in these parts for 25 years. It measured 5.2 on the Richter scale and it felt like someone was standing at the end of the bed shaking it to wake me up! It was a very surreal experience. Around the breakfast table the next morning most of the boys admitted they hadn’t noticed the earth moving during the night, and wondered if I was geeing them up. It’s amazing what footballers will sleep through!


It was a day off today for everyone and the staff and players all went off in various directions. However, before everyone left the hotel, the coach was presented with the Golden Boot on Cam Smith’s behalf by the good people at Rugby League World Magazine. Now we just have to get the thing back to Australia in one piece. And as I’m in charge of that small job, let’s hope it doesn’t suffer the same fate as my laptop.


One group went off in the team bus to Manchester. Their first stop was at Old Trafford, the famous home of Manchester United. They took the tour and visited the trophy room, the players’ changerooms, and went out into the grandstands to take a look at the pitch. The tour took an hour and a half, but they decided after an hour to cut the tour short as it was seriously eating into their shopping time. Hard to believe I know! But they got back on the bus and went to the Trafford Centre, a massive shopping complex that rivals Chadstone for size. As Cooper Cronk put it, “it’s basically an 800-1000 metre stretch of shops in one direction, then you go up the stairs and come back along another 800-1000 metre stretch of shops in the opposite direction”.


Another group caught the mini-bus to York, a spectacular old Roman city that was recently voted England’s most beautiful town. When we first got their we headed straight for York Minster, the massive church that towers over the city. It’s an amazing piece of architecture that took over 250 years to build. At this point, Brett White got changed into his playing strip (including boots) and posed for a photo shoot by Herald Sun photographer Colleen Petch. We literally had to set up in the middle of the street, and it was interesting to see how the people reacted to seeing the big 112kg front-rower in the funny shorts posing in front of York Minster. And making sure Brett and Colleen didn’t get run over was a whole new problem in itself. But we managed to get the shoot done without any hassles and we went on our merry way to see the sights. We bought a ticket for the open-top double decker tourist bus and sat back to enjoy what this beautiful city had to offer. Upon our return to Leeds, we decided to head into the city centre for a spot of shopping (it turns out it’s not just the players who like to shop).


The Storm coaching staff had organised to meet the coaching staff of Liverpool Football Club and take a tour of their facilities. While waiting for Rafa Benitez and his assistants, Harry Kewell popped his head in to say hello to Craig and his staff. It was a nice gesture and took the staff a bit by surprise. When Rafa arrived, they chatted for a while before they went to inspect what Liverpool had to offer in their football department. And by all accounts it was very impressive. No expense was spared to ensure the Liverpool team had everything they needed to prepare for their games, and I’m sure there may be a list of improvements that could be made to the Storm’s football department finding its way to CEO Brian Waldron’s desk within days of our return. The most impressive aspect of the tour according to the coaches was Rafa’s office. A mind boggling 25m x 25m, the office has everything a manager could ever ask for, and the huge windows open up to overlook the training grounds, which were described by assistant coach Michael Maguire as “the biggest bowling green I have ever seen”! Considering Craig’s office is about 2.5m x 2.5m with no windows at all, this was an eye-opening experience for the two-time Dally M Coach of the Year.


The last group stayed in Leeds to rest and do a bit of shopping. Seems the players can’t get enough of their shopping!


At just after 4:00pm everyone met up in the team room at the hotel and made their way into the city to go to the cinemas and watch “Cloverfield”. The general concensus - “the worst movie ever made”! The night before the players were given the option of several movies and a vote was taken by each player placing a tick next to the movie they wanted to see. Cloverfield won out, however no-one could work out how given whenever anyone was asked what movie they voted for, Cloverfield was rarely mentioned. At dinner it was discovered Ryan Hoffman had placed enough ticks in the “Cloverfield” box to get it over the line. Needless to say he won’t be given the right to vote next time the group is voting on which movie to go and see.


After the movie we all went to a beautiful restaurant in the City Square called “The Restaurant”. I guess given all the time they must have spent refurbishing and decorating the place (it really was gorgeous), they forgot to come up with a cool name in time for the grand opening. So when people asked them on the night of the opening what the place was called, that was the best they could come with at such short notice. Oh well, at least the food was delicious. During the entrees we all noticed the room was filling with smoke. As it was a huge place, with two levels and a very high ceiling, this was no mean feat. Then the smoke alarms started to go off. It turns out the air-conditioning units in the kitchen couldn’t handle the smoke generated from cooking 35 steaks at the same time for the Storm party. What were they expecting rugby league players to order, a button tomato and cucumber salad with a balsamic vinegar dressing? Again, at least the food was delicious.

[Cronk7]

DAY 10 - KEEP OFF THE GRASS, PLEASE


This morning was the first time the squad got the chance to check out the facilities and the playing surface at Elland Road Stadium.


When we first arrived at the ground, the Leeds Rhinos players were departing at the same time. As they were coming out to their cars in the car park, we were pulling up in our bus. It was almost like a Mexican stand-off at high-noon at the OK Corral between the two squads, with them taking their time to get to their cars, and us sitting in the boss blocking their exit until they got our of the way. Needless to say we got our way and they moved out of the way...1-0 to the Storm and the game was still 33 hours away!


Surprisingly, considering the soccer team Leeds United (who are the sole tennant of the stadium) were once in the Premier League and took part in the European Champions League, the changerooms were very small. We even stuck our heads in the home changerooms and they weren’t much bigger. Out on the pitch the players took a good look around and the kickers took some footies out for a kick about, aclimatising themselves to the conditions of the ground. Because it’s a soccer ground and they don’t allow a great deal of grass to grow on the field, the ball tends to run on much quicker than on a rugby league field where the grass is usually longer. It was important for the kickers to test the ground out to adjust their kicking strategies for the game.


A couple of Elland Road officials kept a very close eye on proceedings, scrutinising the players’ every movement, making sure the boys didn’t do too much damage to the playing surface. Considering the team didn’t even get a chance to train there the players thought this was a bit rich. A few of the boys put their boots on and gave the ground and good “testing”, just to make sure they knew exactly which boots to wear tomorrow night, the moulded souls or the screw-ins. Although the officials didn’t say anything, you could tell by their facial expressions they weren’t particularly happy about this...2-0 to the Storm.


After visiting the stadium, we went back into the city to a high quality, expensive Italian restaurant called Bibi’s. Personally, I think “The Restaurant” is a better name for a restaurant, but that’s just me!


This was a very flash place, and we assumed we would be in for a real treat. What was to be served under the term “food” (and I use the term loosely) was not what we expected. For an entree there were a couple of pasta dishes. One was quite nice. The other could quite easily have been something a child in their first high school cooking class would have served up. If I didn’t know any better, and I’m no food critic so I probably don’t, one of the pasta dishes was without doubt packet macaroni cheese with bacon bits cooked in the microwave. I kid you not. Then the main course came. Admittedly the roast pork with apple pieces and apple sauce was delicious, but the hamburgers and onion rings were not. The burgers consisted of a chunk of beef in a white bread bun with a slab of cheese on top; and the onion rings were basically a ring of batter with the minimum amount of onion inside for them to be legally called onion rings. If there were any less onion they would simply have been called batter rings. And to top it all off, there was a side serving of wedges.


After lunch we went back to the hotel for a few hours before the team assembled for a team meeting. It was then off to South Leeds Stadium for the final training session before the big game. Once again the boys trained really well and they should be just right for tomorrow night.


When we returned to the team hotel for dinner, and the coaching staff had organised a special guest to address the players. Guest speakers the night before an away game has become quite a tradition and it helps for the players to hear key messages from people other than the coaching staff. The theory is they hear the same thing from the coaches all the time, but if they hear the same thing from a respected professional athlete, it may hold more weight. Tonight Middlesbrough and Socceroo goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer addressed the team. He gave a brief synopsis of his career, and then explained the particular nuances of playing in England - especially the weather and the crowds. Considering he has played professional football for 14 years (almost 11 of those years in the Premier League), he was an extremely down to earth character who has not been effected one bit by the fame that comes with playing football at the highest level in England. He was very humble and willing to talk to everyone and answer everyone’s questions. To put it bluntly, he was a true gentleman.


As tomorrow is game day the players then either sat around playing cards, or a game of table tennis, or simply headed upstairs for an early night.

[TC]

[quote="CrazyAboutCooper"]
DAY 10 - KEEP OFF THE GRASS, PLEASE....

A couple of Elland Road officials kept a very close eye on proceedings, scrutinising the players’ every movement, making sure the boys didn’t do too much damage to the playing surface. Considering the team didn’t even get a chance to train there the players thought this was a bit rich. A few of the boys put their boots on and gave the ground and good “testing”, just to make sure they knew exactly which boots to wear tomorrow night, the moulded souls or the screw-ins. Although the officials didn’t say anything, you could tell by their facial expressions they weren’t particularly happy about this[quote]

sounds like the bad old days at docklands

[MENACING*STORM]

Onya Schwarzer! 

[Cronk7]

DAY 11 - D-DAY


Today’s the day of the big clash against Leeds Rhinos for the World Club Challenge title at Elland Road, and for any normal group you’d think there would be nervousness and apprehension in the camp. Not our boys. They were relaxed and jovial and it seemed like they didn’t have a care in the world.


After breakfast we all went to Headingly for our customary pre-match game of cricket between the Ted’s and the Yobbos. But first we were given a quick tour of the changerooms of the Headingly cricket ground where the English cricket team play many of their Test matches. It’s an old, run down ground in serious need of a renovation. The changerooms were tiny and, for want of a better word, horrible! To be honest, English cricket should be a bit embarrassed with the state of the facilities for teams visiting the ground. Like the tour guide said, if a bomb was dropped on the ground they’d be delighted as they could build a new stadium in a different place.


We walked over the road to the indoor cricket centre to get the game underway. The Yobbos won the toss and decided to bat first. On a slow, bouncy wicket they managed a paltry 38 which really should have been easy pickings for the Ted’s. The highlight of the innings was definitely Dane Nielsen’s entry to the crease, complete with cricket helmet and thigh pad. These were obviously necessary with the soft tennis ball wizzing around the ears!


The Ted’s went in to bat and wickets fell at a regular rate of knots. Once again “interesting” decisions were coming from the square leg umpire, although unlike last week, both teams were on the wrong end this time. With the last batsman in and the Ted’s requiring one run to win, the tension was almost too much to endure. However, the Ted’s need not have feared with Liam Foran comfortably scoring the winning run to send his teammates into raptures. Given the Yobbos had won the other two cricket matches played this year, the win was vital for the Ted’s.


After the team photo was taken for the winning team, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and an afternoon of rest and relaxation.


At 4:00pm the players made their way to the pool for a quick swim before tucking into their pre-game meal at 4:30pm. Then it was up to their rooms, put on their Storm tracksuit, get their gear together and back down to the team room for their last team meeting at 5.20pm.


Once Craig and the coaching staff had given the team their instructions, it was on to the bus for the short trip to Elland Road, made even shorter as we were given a police escort in order to beat the traffic around the stadium.


You’ll have to read the match report for what happens during the rest of the evening...

[Graham Las Darrington]

The session took place at Featherstone Rugby League Club, a club steeped in great tradition that has fallen on difficult times. Once a mighty club that has won Challenge Cup finals at Wembley amongst other prestigious titles, they are now in the division below Super League with very little chance of playing in the top league again. One staunch supporter told me they had earned the right to play in the Super League when it first started, but the powers that be decided they needed a team from Paris and a team form London in the competition so Featherstone was left out. As there’s only a fraction of the money in the lower leagues compared to the Super League there’s little chance of small clubs playing regularly with the big boys again.

I know I'm a bit late with this ... but I've only just found this thread.

I was there for the Storm's visit to featherstone on the Turesday afternoon of last week.
I wore my Storm gear to welcome the squad.
They were magnificent and got on really well with the other visitors of the afternoon, Hull FC.
While I was taking photos of the training session I found I was stood alongside another bloke with a camera: CC, the media bloke, who was responsible for writing Cactus Diary. I fell into conversation with him and it was me he is referring to when he says "One staunch supporter".
After the session was over I got to meet the Storm squad and support staff upstairs in our club house while they were having a meal and drinks.

They signed a club shirt for us as well as a few rugby balls. They were on great form. What a great bunch of blokes - they proved to be excellent ambassadors for the NRL and the club.
Everyone they came across in the game over here were really impressed. I was even able to speak to Craig Bellamy and another coach who was there: Stephen Kearney.

What a great day it was for me. That was easily the highlight of their stay here for me even though I went to the Halifax game and the WCC game v Leeds.

Well done Storm - you are top class!

[Graham Las Darrington]

Here's the Storm lads and the Hull FC blokes on the pitch at The Chris Moyles Stadium, home of Featherstone Rovers RLFC



At the end of the session the two teams played a friendly game of light contact rugby.

How lucky was I to meet them???!!!

[Silkin Storm]

Good to hear it was a Bai Stander who was a Staunch supporter 

[Graham Las Darrington]

Yes, and though he realised I was with the Featherstone club I was wearing my Storm rain jacket and baseball cap!