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Life After Origin | Joe Kilroy FOG #55



FOG #55, Joe Kilroy, was a charismatic showman, entrepreneur and a damn good rugby league player. His sheer speed, evasiveness, and ability to bounce off players, combined with his try-scoring ability from either fullback or wing, saw fans dub him “Smokin' Joe”. He was electrifying. Even to this day, it remains one of the code's great mysteries, especially to those who watched him destroy sides during the 1980s, why he only appeared in two State Origin games. It was obvious during our recent interview that Kilroy felt he should played a lot more Origin games. “It took me eight years’ to crack the bloody team,” he said when asked what he remembered about his Origin debut in 1988 after he spent two seasons with English club Halifax playing fullback in their back-to-back titles in 1985-86. “They just kept picking everyone else, it took me eight bloody years. “When they pulled Collin Scott out of reserve grade in 1980, they insulted just about every fullback in the Brisbane competition.” “Someone told me once, it takes three blokes (selectors) to make a rep player and those three blokes didn’t want me. “That was the way it was.” Kilroy picked up the nickname “Smokin” early in his career, depending on what version you believe, because of his speed, or the fact he loved a cigarette. Either way, he could burn the grass. He reckons he would have scored well over 100 career tries had the removal of the cardboard corner post happened a lot earlier than in 2010. “The greatest improvement to the game has been getting rid of that ridiculous bloody vertical sideline, the corner post,” he told FOGS.com.au. “Taking it away has been the greatest thing for the entertainment of the game and look at how many tries wingers aren’t being disallowed because of that stupid post. “I could never understand that rule.” Kilroy said he still had to work long hours moving houses which paid better money than he made training and playing for the Broncos. “Mate you still had to work back then. Some weeks I was working 60 hours, earning more money than I was played to play football. When the Brisbane arrived in 1988 their star players, including Wally Lewis, were paid $1500 a win and virtually nothing if they lost. Former Origin star and Test international Gene Miles played in the Queensland side alongside Smokin’ Joe when he played his first Origin in 1988. They were also teammates when Brisbane launched into the NRL with a 44-10 humbling of reigning premiers Manly at Lang Park that year and they played against each other for much of their Brisbane careers. Miles remembered Kilroy as an attacking player who he said: “struck fear into his rivals”. “Joe was flamboyant on and off the field, that was just him. “I remember going to Penrith one day with the Broncos and Joe was there with his cheer squad, it was unheard of in those days. “He had his cheer squad promoting his clothing line, a big mustache, and a flashy Harley Davidson that he rocked up at training on. “You could hear him coming two miles away.” Miles, who played four seasons at the Broncos with Kilroy said the Maryborough speedster brought so much to a team as a player. “He was extremely versatile. He was incredibly hard to stop once he had the ball in his hands. “It’s not like he ran over blokes, but he was quite elusive and he could bump blokes off, turn on the after-burners and he’d be gone. “He was a bit of cult figure with fans and he loved entertaining them.“ “Whenever Smokin’ got the ball, the crowd were always up out of their seats. “He was that kind of player.” Kilroy had a few offers to go to Sydney to play. “I was never interested in Sydney, it was never on my radar,” he said. “I had offers, I just wasn’t interested. I was content playing in Brisbane. Kilroy spoke openly about his early life in institutions and his brief time in prison. It wasn’t until he signed with the Brisbane Broncos in 1988 and linked up with Wayne Bennett that his life changed. “Wayne turned my life around totally,” he said. “It wasn’t about caring at all, it was about self-assessment, about accountability, about making better decisions and the methodologies to achieve all that and what I need to do myself. “It wasn’t tough love, it was just reality. “We spoke almost every day about lots of things. “Until Wayne, there was no father figure in my life growing up, no mentor there for me constantly.” “If I had one wish, other than to have my Mum back, it would have been to have that in my life.” Kilroy lives a quiet, lazy life on Stradbroke Island these days with his pet poodle dog, Millie. “I’m enjoying a cigarette as we speak,” Kilroy laughed. You wouldn’t expect anything else from a guy nicknamed “Smokin’.”

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