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http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...570555f204d65a Roosters rookie Connor Watson on his rise from footy fan to NRL star
NICK WALSHAW, The Daily Telegraph
March 2, 2017 2:51am
Subscriber only
CONNOR Watson, in primary school, always arrived late on Mondays.
And why?
He had his radio gig.
A popular little spot on the Central Coast airwaves where this outgoing schoolboy — aged seven and still in Year 2 at Avoca Beach Public — would, firstly, break down the eight NRL matches for that weekend.
Then, follow up with a joke.
His bit proved so popular it spent two years squeezed among an increasing whirl of TV commitments, advertising shoots, even modelling gigs which ran front page of The Sunday Telegraph.
For this was life for Watson as a kid. One minute, Mario Fenech’s Man of the Week on The Footy Show. The next, appearing in Big W catalogues or as an extra on Home And Away.
But still, nothing beat that spot on Star FM.
Connor Watson had a remarkable pre-season which included an Auckland Nines title and player of the tournament. “Because it meant Mondays, I always started school late,’’ he recalls, grinning. “I was stoked.
“And from there, I signed up to an acting/modelling agency. That’s how I got on The Sunday Telegraph’s front page, doing a promotion for State of Origin.
“Then a couple of months after that — or maybe it was a year later, I can’t really remember — there was a TV commercial for footy cards.
“That one was awesome, too, because we had Nathan Hindmarsh, Matty King, Justin Hodges, Petero Civoniceva ... I spent the day with all of them.”
Which makes Watson the kid destined for NRL stardom, right?
A boy not so much born for league’s bright lights, as thrust in among them.
Indeed, apart from fronting Origin and NRL advertising campaigns, this now 20-year-old Rooster also grew up two doors from Immortality.
A pair of letterboxes were all that separated his own Avoca Beach home from a holiday house owned by Sydney agent John Fordham, whose star client Andrew Johns was a regular visitor.
Jake Friend, Connor Watson and Latrell Mitchell are hoping to get the Roosters back on track in 2017. Picture: Gregg Porteous “And whenever I knew Joey was there, I’d always go knock on the door and ask if he could come out,’’ Watson laughs of the legend who is now guiding him as a Roosters halves consultant.
“A couple of times he did, too. We even went for a surf together.”
So again, a kid born for footballing fame, right? Certainly, that makes the easiest headline.
And yet it ignores an uneasy truth.
For Connor Watson, he isn’t supposed to be playing NRL at all.
At 176cm, he’s too small.
At 86kg, too light.
And as for the skills of this wannabe playmaker ... well, as one Roosters insider told us this week: “I’m sure plenty of Central Coast people would be asking how the bloody hell he’s the one who made it?”
So maybe we should tell them.
Explain how at the same time little Connor was doing those catalogue shoots for Big W, he was also running the backstreets of Avoca — dad Mark following in his car, a stopwatch ticking on the passenger seat beside him.
Connor Watson has worked hard to earn his place in the NRL. As the years increased, so did their training sessions at the local oval. Ditto appearances in the gym.
A truth proved by Watson’s current deadlifting PB of 230kg — or almost three times his body weight.
Indeed, even the tape which started this Coastie’s whirl of TV, radio and modelling gigs was based on nothing but want.
For, yes, the seven-year-old would prove such a hit when he first appeared on The Footy Show way back in 2005, he was immediately sought out by Star FM radio. Next up, TV commercials and modelling gigs, too. So popular even his grandparents were interviewed in their Dubbo newspaper, The Daily Liberal. But as for the actual tape sent to Channel 9’s studios ... well, the next Joey Johns he wasn’t.
“Every Thursday, The Footy Show used to have this segment where Mario Fenech picked his man of the week,’’ Watson recalls.
“People sent tapes of their kids playing footy and Mario, he picked the best. I remember being so keen to enter because the winner got a PlayStation ... and I didn’t have one.”
Connor Watson and Mark O'Meley with young Central Coast Rooster players Mokena Moeke, Harrison Edwards and Tyson James at Central Coast Stadium, Gosford. Picture: Peter Clark Nor, however, did the young Kincumber Colt have much of a highlights reel. And so while other parents packaged VHS footage of their sons scoring runaway tries, Jodie Watson created a compilation of her boy making bootlace tackles.
Little Connor continually turning, chasing, felling his larger rivals over and over and over.
“Because Dad, he’d always taught me that when somebody from the opposition made a break, you chased them,’’ Watson shrugs.
“So that’s what I did. As a kid I wasn’t a standout. Even when I finally made some rep teams, I was the fullback who played wing when somebody else was out.
“But I just kept telling myself that weight, size, skill, none of it would matter if I worked hard.”
Still does. And for proof, speak with those same club insiders about a kid who played himself into first grade on effort.
Unknown and unrated this time last year, Watson was the guy who competed on every play in conditioning games. A utility who, when left edge challenged right at training, would sprint to save tries and throw himself on loose balls like the Hollywood war hero does grenades.
A young Connor Watson of the Central Coast Centurions is trapped by the Newcastle defence during the under 14 junior rep trials. But where would they play him? Who knew?
Head coach Trent Robinson was convinced only that he had to run this bundle of enthusiasm somewhere.
“And I’m still not sure anybody knows what my best position is,’’ says Watson, whose options include the entire backline, hooker or lock. “But I’m young, so no rush.”
Elsewhere, this Roosters utility still isn’t the fastest, fittest or strongest at Bondi Junction, either. But take the top three from any category, and he has sweated his way up among them.
So born for greatness?
No, Watson remains that fella who grew up idolising workaholic Knight Kurt Gidley. A footballer who gifted North Queensland two tries in the opening game of the 2017 Auckland Nines — throwing an intercept for one, a fumble for two — before recovering so brilliantly he was named tournament MVP.
Gifted nothing, Watson’s is a story of want. Of effort. The kid who rose to fame chasing better kids down.
NICK WALSHAW, The Daily Telegraph
March 2, 2017 2:51am
Subscriber only
CONNOR Watson, in primary school, always arrived late on Mondays.
And why?
He had his radio gig.
A popular little spot on the Central Coast airwaves where this outgoing schoolboy — aged seven and still in Year 2 at Avoca Beach Public — would, firstly, break down the eight NRL matches for that weekend.
Then, follow up with a joke.
His bit proved so popular it spent two years squeezed among an increasing whirl of TV commitments, advertising shoots, even modelling gigs which ran front page of The Sunday Telegraph.
For this was life for Watson as a kid. One minute, Mario Fenech’s Man of the Week on The Footy Show. The next, appearing in Big W catalogues or as an extra on Home And Away.
But still, nothing beat that spot on Star FM.
Connor Watson had a remarkable pre-season which included an Auckland Nines title and player of the tournament. “Because it meant Mondays, I always started school late,’’ he recalls, grinning. “I was stoked.
“And from there, I signed up to an acting/modelling agency. That’s how I got on The Sunday Telegraph’s front page, doing a promotion for State of Origin.
“Then a couple of months after that — or maybe it was a year later, I can’t really remember — there was a TV commercial for footy cards.
“That one was awesome, too, because we had Nathan Hindmarsh, Matty King, Justin Hodges, Petero Civoniceva ... I spent the day with all of them.”
Which makes Watson the kid destined for NRL stardom, right?
A boy not so much born for league’s bright lights, as thrust in among them.
Indeed, apart from fronting Origin and NRL advertising campaigns, this now 20-year-old Rooster also grew up two doors from Immortality.
A pair of letterboxes were all that separated his own Avoca Beach home from a holiday house owned by Sydney agent John Fordham, whose star client Andrew Johns was a regular visitor.
Jake Friend, Connor Watson and Latrell Mitchell are hoping to get the Roosters back on track in 2017. Picture: Gregg Porteous “And whenever I knew Joey was there, I’d always go knock on the door and ask if he could come out,’’ Watson laughs of the legend who is now guiding him as a Roosters halves consultant.
“A couple of times he did, too. We even went for a surf together.”
So again, a kid born for footballing fame, right? Certainly, that makes the easiest headline.
And yet it ignores an uneasy truth.
For Connor Watson, he isn’t supposed to be playing NRL at all.
At 176cm, he’s too small.
At 86kg, too light.
And as for the skills of this wannabe playmaker ... well, as one Roosters insider told us this week: “I’m sure plenty of Central Coast people would be asking how the bloody hell he’s the one who made it?”
So maybe we should tell them.
Explain how at the same time little Connor was doing those catalogue shoots for Big W, he was also running the backstreets of Avoca — dad Mark following in his car, a stopwatch ticking on the passenger seat beside him.
Connor Watson has worked hard to earn his place in the NRL. As the years increased, so did their training sessions at the local oval. Ditto appearances in the gym.
A truth proved by Watson’s current deadlifting PB of 230kg — or almost three times his body weight.
Indeed, even the tape which started this Coastie’s whirl of TV, radio and modelling gigs was based on nothing but want.
For, yes, the seven-year-old would prove such a hit when he first appeared on The Footy Show way back in 2005, he was immediately sought out by Star FM radio. Next up, TV commercials and modelling gigs, too. So popular even his grandparents were interviewed in their Dubbo newspaper, The Daily Liberal. But as for the actual tape sent to Channel 9’s studios ... well, the next Joey Johns he wasn’t.
“Every Thursday, The Footy Show used to have this segment where Mario Fenech picked his man of the week,’’ Watson recalls.
“People sent tapes of their kids playing footy and Mario, he picked the best. I remember being so keen to enter because the winner got a PlayStation ... and I didn’t have one.”
Connor Watson and Mark O'Meley with young Central Coast Rooster players Mokena Moeke, Harrison Edwards and Tyson James at Central Coast Stadium, Gosford. Picture: Peter Clark Nor, however, did the young Kincumber Colt have much of a highlights reel. And so while other parents packaged VHS footage of their sons scoring runaway tries, Jodie Watson created a compilation of her boy making bootlace tackles.
Little Connor continually turning, chasing, felling his larger rivals over and over and over.
“Because Dad, he’d always taught me that when somebody from the opposition made a break, you chased them,’’ Watson shrugs.
“So that’s what I did. As a kid I wasn’t a standout. Even when I finally made some rep teams, I was the fullback who played wing when somebody else was out.
“But I just kept telling myself that weight, size, skill, none of it would matter if I worked hard.”
Still does. And for proof, speak with those same club insiders about a kid who played himself into first grade on effort.
Unknown and unrated this time last year, Watson was the guy who competed on every play in conditioning games. A utility who, when left edge challenged right at training, would sprint to save tries and throw himself on loose balls like the Hollywood war hero does grenades.
A young Connor Watson of the Central Coast Centurions is trapped by the Newcastle defence during the under 14 junior rep trials. But where would they play him? Who knew?
Head coach Trent Robinson was convinced only that he had to run this bundle of enthusiasm somewhere.
“And I’m still not sure anybody knows what my best position is,’’ says Watson, whose options include the entire backline, hooker or lock. “But I’m young, so no rush.”
Elsewhere, this Roosters utility still isn’t the fastest, fittest or strongest at Bondi Junction, either. But take the top three from any category, and he has sweated his way up among them.
So born for greatness?
No, Watson remains that fella who grew up idolising workaholic Knight Kurt Gidley. A footballer who gifted North Queensland two tries in the opening game of the 2017 Auckland Nines — throwing an intercept for one, a fumble for two — before recovering so brilliantly he was named tournament MVP.
Gifted nothing, Watson’s is a story of want. Of effort. The kid who rose to fame chasing better kids down.
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