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Lubbie all round !!!!!
Grog-less Roosters test the waters
Josh Massoud From: The Daily Telegraph March 18, 2010 12:00AM
TO COOK the Middle Eastern stew known as lubbie, start with diced brown onions. Fry them in olive oil until golden. Then add lamb, stripped of its fat and cubed from the leg. Sautee in all-spiced tomato gravy until the sinew strands are exposed and ready to melt. Serve with yoghurt, rice, and red wine: preferably a Mediterranean pinot noir.
On Monday night in Coogee, Todd Carney sat down to a bowl of lubbie with his good mate from North Queensland, Mick Nasser. The grandson of Lebanese immigrants who built the Barron Valley Hotel in Atherton, Nasser is the publican who sponsored Carney 12 months ago, when all the headlines were damning.
In Sydney to watch Carney's NRL rebirth the previous afternoon, Nasser followed the ancient family recipe to the letter when the footballer visited his sister's house for dinner.
"Well ... I did everything to the letter except for the red wine," Nasser said.
Just as he's done for 10 weeks since a silly New Year's Eve incident threatened to abort his comeback, Carney drank water.
Along with Roosters teammates Mitchell Pearce and Nate Myles, he's sworn off alcohol this season.
On Sunday afternoon they combined to deliver not only a big win for the Roosters, but also on behalf of the relentless push toward wholesale teetotalling in the NRL. Carney, Pearce and Myles - in that order - claimed a rare H2O Dally M points trifecta to bolster the argument that players cannot reach their full potential unless they stop drinking.
That was the mantra of Pearce's dad, Tigers great Wayne Pearce. To this day, the man they call Junior has never had a drink. But in his day, Pearce Sr was a beacon of abstinence that shone like a lone lighthouse in sea of booze.
He was mindful, however, not to blind young Mitchell with the same philosophy. Desperate to make his own name, the boy knocked back an approach from the Tigers. Got tattoos. Styled his hair. And drank freely.
Having vowed to let his son learn from experience, Pearce Sr never intervened. Then, on the very same night Carney was recreating his own Jackass episode with a lighter and a mate's backside in Airlie Beach, Mitchell Pearce made a New Year's resolution to stop drinking.
A truth session with his new teammates a week later convinced Carney to do likewise. One of his inspirations was Myles, who gave up the booze a few months earlier following a disgrace his reformed self must now sadly live with forever.
Interestingly, Myles' dad Tony lives much of his life in the same hotel that helped prepare Carney for this second second-coming.
"Tony is a removalist and does big jobs up here," Nasser said. "He actually stayed upstairs for three nights last week."
And so the synergies continue. Carney and Pearce are now best mates. And but for an unfinished tattoo, Myles would have been mopping up his own bowl of lubbie with the Nassers on Monday night.
"Todd wanted him to come - they are really good mates as well," Nasser said.
If there's such a thing as positive peer pressure, then it's found an unlikely home at the Roosters - the club consumed by bad influences last year. Carney, Pearce and Myles are hardly choirboys, and presumably have no desire to become holier-than-thou posterboys. The more realistic ideal is for all three to soon find the self-esteem to drink responsibly and resist the influences that might compromise their careers.
But for now they are in the same boat, on the same sober sea. A strange, watery fate has brought them together. And it might also take the Roosters to safer shores.
Josh Massoud From: The Daily Telegraph March 18, 2010 12:00AM
TO COOK the Middle Eastern stew known as lubbie, start with diced brown onions. Fry them in olive oil until golden. Then add lamb, stripped of its fat and cubed from the leg. Sautee in all-spiced tomato gravy until the sinew strands are exposed and ready to melt. Serve with yoghurt, rice, and red wine: preferably a Mediterranean pinot noir.
On Monday night in Coogee, Todd Carney sat down to a bowl of lubbie with his good mate from North Queensland, Mick Nasser. The grandson of Lebanese immigrants who built the Barron Valley Hotel in Atherton, Nasser is the publican who sponsored Carney 12 months ago, when all the headlines were damning.
In Sydney to watch Carney's NRL rebirth the previous afternoon, Nasser followed the ancient family recipe to the letter when the footballer visited his sister's house for dinner.
"Well ... I did everything to the letter except for the red wine," Nasser said.
Just as he's done for 10 weeks since a silly New Year's Eve incident threatened to abort his comeback, Carney drank water.
Along with Roosters teammates Mitchell Pearce and Nate Myles, he's sworn off alcohol this season.
On Sunday afternoon they combined to deliver not only a big win for the Roosters, but also on behalf of the relentless push toward wholesale teetotalling in the NRL. Carney, Pearce and Myles - in that order - claimed a rare H2O Dally M points trifecta to bolster the argument that players cannot reach their full potential unless they stop drinking.
That was the mantra of Pearce's dad, Tigers great Wayne Pearce. To this day, the man they call Junior has never had a drink. But in his day, Pearce Sr was a beacon of abstinence that shone like a lone lighthouse in sea of booze.
He was mindful, however, not to blind young Mitchell with the same philosophy. Desperate to make his own name, the boy knocked back an approach from the Tigers. Got tattoos. Styled his hair. And drank freely.
Having vowed to let his son learn from experience, Pearce Sr never intervened. Then, on the very same night Carney was recreating his own Jackass episode with a lighter and a mate's backside in Airlie Beach, Mitchell Pearce made a New Year's resolution to stop drinking.
A truth session with his new teammates a week later convinced Carney to do likewise. One of his inspirations was Myles, who gave up the booze a few months earlier following a disgrace his reformed self must now sadly live with forever.
Interestingly, Myles' dad Tony lives much of his life in the same hotel that helped prepare Carney for this second second-coming.
"Tony is a removalist and does big jobs up here," Nasser said. "He actually stayed upstairs for three nights last week."
And so the synergies continue. Carney and Pearce are now best mates. And but for an unfinished tattoo, Myles would have been mopping up his own bowl of lubbie with the Nassers on Monday night.
"Todd wanted him to come - they are really good mates as well," Nasser said.
If there's such a thing as positive peer pressure, then it's found an unlikely home at the Roosters - the club consumed by bad influences last year. Carney, Pearce and Myles are hardly choirboys, and presumably have no desire to become holier-than-thou posterboys. The more realistic ideal is for all three to soon find the self-esteem to drink responsibly and resist the influences that might compromise their careers.
But for now they are in the same boat, on the same sober sea. A strange, watery fate has brought them together. And it might also take the Roosters to safer shores.
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