Retire. You’d be better off earning more money, and besides your body will thank you for it. Why do you want to move down there? To that club? Maybe, just maybe, it was never meant to be.
Dan Russell heard all of it. Heck, he even thought some of it to be true himself. But what’s a dream if you aren’t willing to chase it until it’s literally not possible?
Amid the media boycotts and strapping tape over logos, there’s a story worth fighting for; how a red-headed Papua New Guinean back-rower who didn’t really want to give up his teacher’s aide job finally cracked the NRL at the age of 27. Young man’s game? Only if you let it be.
“You’ve got to chase your dream,” says Russell, who made his NRL debut for the Dragons earlier this month and will line up for his third game against Manly on Saturday night.
“There’s always a doubt in your mind as you’re getting older and the years are ticking over. With a few injuries, I thought I might have had my opportunity to play in the NRL. But I just knew I wasn’t far off.
“I didn’t want to get the end of my career and think, ‘If I had stayed one or two more years’. There’s always doubt. But I knew I could do it.”
St George Illawarra’s Dan Russell made his NRL debut this month at the age of 27.Credit: Getty
It’s not as if Russell emerged from the rugby league wilderness to make his NRL debut. He’s been a Queensland Cup regular for years, played in last year’s World Cup for the Kumuls and spent time contracted to the Cowboys.
But it was only when incoming Dragons coach Shane Flanagan, who worked with Russell during Papua New Guinea’s campaign last year, the NRL dream he’d chased for so long became a bit more realistic.
Flanagan was still St George Illawarra’s recruitment manager at the time. He told Russell there would be a $1000 per week train-and-trial deal if he wanted it. It meant leaving Queensland, where he had comfortably adapted to a life of playing in the second tier competition and working as a teacher’s aide at Brisbane’s Manly State School.
On top of that, he knew the Dragons had form. They handed NRL debuts to Jonathon Reuben (2022) and Darren Nicholls (2018) at ages older than Russell.
“I knew it was close,” Russell says. “I’ve been chipping away for a long time now and you get that opportunity to, it’s a dream come true. With all the sacrifices and stuff that we’ve made, my partner and I, just a big kind of weight off the shoulders of the journey we’ve been through. It’s a massive achievement.”
Russell’s presence in the NRL squad has been a huge boost for the rest of the Dragons squad, slowly edging away from wooden spoon contention in another disappointing year.
“This is the stuff rugby league players want to talk about,” said former Dragon Moses Mbye, who debuted with Russell before switching to the Super League. “It’s just a real testament to his character. He is one of those guys that never gave up on his dream.
“That’s the things that make rugby league so good and our game so great. It’s such a good game to bring people together and for people to achieve their goals. Dan is the perfect example of that.”
Russell is not only hoping to keep his spot in the Dragons squad for the rest of the season, he’s also hoping he can represent Papua New Guinea again if an international calendar can be sorted for the end of the season. Russell qualified for the Kumuls through father Mark, who was born in the country and lived there until 16 as Dan’s grandparents worked as medics.
It’s reason enough for the villagers to huddle around televisions and want to watch more than Justin Olam.
“No one should ever give up,” Russell says. “As long as you train hard and are persistent at what you want to achieve, anyone can do it. You have to keep that mindset and you can achieve anything - and it can be special.”
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