JT chapter sampler

I played my first game of rugby league for Souths Acacia Ridge Junior Rugby League Football Club (JRLFC) when I was six. And apparently I was pretty good from the get-go. I started playing football not long after one of my cousins came to live with us. Micheal Janson, my mother’s nephew, moved into our house for a while when I was six. I am not sure why, but one day he was bunking down with me and it was great. We all called Micheal ‘Mickey Motor’, and he fast became my best mate. He was right into his football and he ended up getting me into it too. He had already played a season with Souths and he wanted me to join him. ‘Come and play with me, Johnny,’ he said. ‘We can be in the same team.’ Micheal was a year older but the 6s and 7s were combined. ‘Yeah, righto,’ I said. ‘Beats watching you.’ Soon I was surrounded by footballs; my backyard was full of them. So too the front yard, the neighbour’s yard and that ball-swallowing bush down the end of the street. Yep. It was footy, footy and footy at the Thurston house. Seriously, we played so much we wore the grass

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