Sea Eagles' Quiet Giant Does His Talking On The Football Field

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday August 21, 2006

Alex Brown

A STROLL through the Manly dressing rooms yesterday was akin to roaming the back lot of a big-budget Hollywood film. Giddy autograph hunters surrounded three-try hero Brett Stewart. Steve Menzies shook more hands than his local MP. Ben Kennedy, doing his best impression of his opponents' Oscar-winning owner, gruffly fended off questions. "I'm no chance of playing next week," he huffed before exiting, stage left.

Well away from the superstar frenzy, though, stood a man who could well have passed for a security guard, if not for the battle-muddied Manly jersey barely covering his hulking torso. Big, broad and without a trace of pretense, George Rose looked somehow out of place in a dressing room of rugby league galacticos. And yet he was the man singled out by Souths skipper Peter Cusack for causing the Rabbitohs particular problems with his bullocking charges in the second half. And he was the man afforded cult status by the Brookvale crowd all afternoon.

Though lacking the superstar aura of his teammates, Rose nonetheless looms as an important impact player for the Sea Eagles in their push for a top-four finals berth. From the bench, Rose presumably watched nervously as his side sputtered to half-time trailing 12-10 against the competition's wooden spooners. But once injected into the game, the 116-kilogram prop did much to win back momentum for the Sea Eagles, playing the role of the wrecking ball to Matt Orford's interior decorator as Manly applied the myxomatosis to the Bunnies.

It's these kind of displays that have made Rose not only an important component of Des Hasler's finals plans, but also a favourite with the Brookvale faithful. The crowd roared in appreciation yesterday when the ground announcer introduced him as "Gorgeous George", then again when the man with the mike excitedly exclaimed, "Pass it to George" when the Sea Eagles were attacking.

It hasn't always been this easy for Rose. In life, or footy. Raised in western NSW, Rose's family, who hail from the Ularoie people north of Lightning Ridge, moved to Bathurst after his father died of a heart attack, aged just 40. His family say he plays the game just like his dad did: hard and uncompromising. "It gives us goose bumps," one member of the Rose clan said.

Rose graduated from high school and tried his hand at accounting, although footy remained his true passion. But even that hasn't come easily. Now 23, Rose bounced around the lower grades of Penrith and the Roosters before finding his niche with the Sea Eagles. He has also battled the preconceptions of those who, upon seeing him, assume he is a beer-swilling, fast-food hoovering machine.

"I don't even drink beer," he said. "It's a bit upsetting when that stuff gets said about you."

When discussing his size, Rose quips: "I don't think I'll ever be a professional athlete." When reminded that he already is, he responds, "No, mate, I'm just a footy player."

Certainly an important one to Manly.