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http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/...-1225901862662
Great story. After reading it I'm hoping he has a great game on Sunday.
MOST parents would skip straight to the state hurdles record, set at age eight. Or the 400m title won a few years later. Maybe they'd even dig around for that long jump gold medal won at the NSW titles.
But not Colin Linnett.
No, Col prefers to recall the time his boy enjoyed an undefeated 400m season, only to lose the national final. There was a botched start that cruelled him of the NSW sprint crown, an unlucky state meet that yielded three silvers and one bronze. The youngster was even stripped of a Little A's record after Wollongong officials somehow found him guilty of an accidental lane change.
"But none of it worried Kane - ever," his old man shrugs. "Like the year he was beaten for the NSW long jump on the final leap of the day. Done by less than a centimetre, Kane just walked away promising to train harder, to do better. It has always been his way."
This is why Kane Linnett has finally arrived in the NRL.
Why Sydneysiders are starting to ask questions of this Roosters centre who earns little, says less and boasts the body of a fella who should never have played with anyone but his home-town team, the Windang Pelicans. A footballer so anonymous, even the 2010 NRL media guide fails to mention him.
Indeed, a quick check of the history books suggests there are no Aussie Schoolboy jerseys in the cupboard of this Port Kembla product. Just as there were no offers from St George Illawarra before coach Wayne Bennett released him late last year. Poor old Linnett can't even boast that he is being the best footballer from Barrack Heights primary.
"Nah," he laughs, "because Matty Cooper went there, too."
And yet here he is, running out against St George Illawarra this Sunday wearing that same Roosters jersey he once sported as a kid. Back when Freddy Fittler adorned his wall, running spikes filled the kit bag and his athletic repertoire included hurdles, long jump and every foot race up to 800m.
Yet Linnett's sudden emergence as a bolter for the NRL rookie crown is about much more than a childhood of six-metre jumps or 11.5sec sprints.
More, even, than his ability to now cross 40m in just 3.7sec, faster than any other Roosters player.
Sure, this Dragons reject is something of a genetic freak. Just ask fellow Tricolours centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall, who checked out every one of Linnett's 27 Toyota Cup tries when his signing was first announced.
"Yeah, a few of us boys had a look at Kane on the league analyser and were blown away by what he did last year," Kenny-Dowall concedes. "His speed and footwork, incredible. But the longer you play alongside him, the more you notice, too. Like the way he defends for such a lean guy, it's impressive."
Yep, this is why Linnett is here. Dedication, perseverance and grit. Ticker.
Like when Bennett dropped him from the top squad early last winter and he responded by starting every day with a 3km road run. Or the arduous strength program that, since arriving at Roosters HQ, has seen him bulk up by 10kg while increasing both his bench and squat presses by 25 per cent - to 130kg and 160kg respectively.
Previously, this Roosters rookie has battled three, four sometimes five bouts of tonsillitis every winter. So back in January, well, he asked a leading Sydney surgeon to rip the offending throat tissue out for good.
"Yep, adenoids too," Linnett grins. "Every year I was feeling flat and lethargic.
"Continually breaking down while taking all these antibiotics that didn't seem to be working.
"I kept playing, though. Kept pushing as hard as I could. What else do you do?"
What else indeed, when you're the son of a Western Suburbs back-rower? A young centre who, as a kid, stood out more as the scoreline drifted against him and, in the Dragons Toyota Cup side last year, was forever finishing among the top tacklers.
Roosters fans remember Linnett's debut against Melbourne because of a nice solo try. Roosters players were more impressed by the six extra weeks of toil he put in after his original debut date against Wests Tigers was ruined by a rolled ankle.
"It happened in the final session. We couldn't believe it," halfback Mitchell Pearce recalls. "But the guy works so hard. Is so dedicated. A setback like that was never, ever going to stop him."
And, thankfully, there are those like Pearce willing to talk up the teammate they'd only heard about in whispers before this season.
To speak on behalf of this fella who, while listing John Cena as the person he'd most like to meet, is never going to give you any WWE hype.
So did the Dragons make you an offer before switching? Nah. How did that make you feel? Disappointed, yeah. So why the Roosters? They're moving forward ... I wanna be part of that.
About the only thing Linnett does expand on is the people who got him here.
The ones to whom his thoughts drift when, before every game, he takes a thick, black marker and scrawls family on the tape around each wrist. Like his mum, Anne, a Salvation Army volunteer, and his girlfriend, Marissa. Older sisters Jennifer and Rachel, too.
And, of course, there's Col. The retired maths teacher, Magpies back-rower and racer of pigeons. A man who knows the importance of going the long way around before, finally, revealing that state hurdles record set at age eight.
But not Colin Linnett.
No, Col prefers to recall the time his boy enjoyed an undefeated 400m season, only to lose the national final. There was a botched start that cruelled him of the NSW sprint crown, an unlucky state meet that yielded three silvers and one bronze. The youngster was even stripped of a Little A's record after Wollongong officials somehow found him guilty of an accidental lane change.
"But none of it worried Kane - ever," his old man shrugs. "Like the year he was beaten for the NSW long jump on the final leap of the day. Done by less than a centimetre, Kane just walked away promising to train harder, to do better. It has always been his way."
This is why Kane Linnett has finally arrived in the NRL.
Why Sydneysiders are starting to ask questions of this Roosters centre who earns little, says less and boasts the body of a fella who should never have played with anyone but his home-town team, the Windang Pelicans. A footballer so anonymous, even the 2010 NRL media guide fails to mention him.
Indeed, a quick check of the history books suggests there are no Aussie Schoolboy jerseys in the cupboard of this Port Kembla product. Just as there were no offers from St George Illawarra before coach Wayne Bennett released him late last year. Poor old Linnett can't even boast that he is being the best footballer from Barrack Heights primary.
"Nah," he laughs, "because Matty Cooper went there, too."
And yet here he is, running out against St George Illawarra this Sunday wearing that same Roosters jersey he once sported as a kid. Back when Freddy Fittler adorned his wall, running spikes filled the kit bag and his athletic repertoire included hurdles, long jump and every foot race up to 800m.
Yet Linnett's sudden emergence as a bolter for the NRL rookie crown is about much more than a childhood of six-metre jumps or 11.5sec sprints.
More, even, than his ability to now cross 40m in just 3.7sec, faster than any other Roosters player.
Sure, this Dragons reject is something of a genetic freak. Just ask fellow Tricolours centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall, who checked out every one of Linnett's 27 Toyota Cup tries when his signing was first announced.
"Yeah, a few of us boys had a look at Kane on the league analyser and were blown away by what he did last year," Kenny-Dowall concedes. "His speed and footwork, incredible. But the longer you play alongside him, the more you notice, too. Like the way he defends for such a lean guy, it's impressive."
Yep, this is why Linnett is here. Dedication, perseverance and grit. Ticker.
Like when Bennett dropped him from the top squad early last winter and he responded by starting every day with a 3km road run. Or the arduous strength program that, since arriving at Roosters HQ, has seen him bulk up by 10kg while increasing both his bench and squat presses by 25 per cent - to 130kg and 160kg respectively.
Previously, this Roosters rookie has battled three, four sometimes five bouts of tonsillitis every winter. So back in January, well, he asked a leading Sydney surgeon to rip the offending throat tissue out for good.
"Yep, adenoids too," Linnett grins. "Every year I was feeling flat and lethargic.
"Continually breaking down while taking all these antibiotics that didn't seem to be working.
"I kept playing, though. Kept pushing as hard as I could. What else do you do?"
What else indeed, when you're the son of a Western Suburbs back-rower? A young centre who, as a kid, stood out more as the scoreline drifted against him and, in the Dragons Toyota Cup side last year, was forever finishing among the top tacklers.
Roosters fans remember Linnett's debut against Melbourne because of a nice solo try. Roosters players were more impressed by the six extra weeks of toil he put in after his original debut date against Wests Tigers was ruined by a rolled ankle.
"It happened in the final session. We couldn't believe it," halfback Mitchell Pearce recalls. "But the guy works so hard. Is so dedicated. A setback like that was never, ever going to stop him."
And, thankfully, there are those like Pearce willing to talk up the teammate they'd only heard about in whispers before this season.
To speak on behalf of this fella who, while listing John Cena as the person he'd most like to meet, is never going to give you any WWE hype.
So did the Dragons make you an offer before switching? Nah. How did that make you feel? Disappointed, yeah. So why the Roosters? They're moving forward ... I wanna be part of that.
About the only thing Linnett does expand on is the people who got him here.
The ones to whom his thoughts drift when, before every game, he takes a thick, black marker and scrawls family on the tape around each wrist. Like his mum, Anne, a Salvation Army volunteer, and his girlfriend, Marissa. Older sisters Jennifer and Rachel, too.
And, of course, there's Col. The retired maths teacher, Magpies back-rower and racer of pigeons. A man who knows the importance of going the long way around before, finally, revealing that state hurdles record set at age eight.
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