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Western Wallabies reflect: Warwick Waugh

Western Plains App

06 April 2022, 9:39 PM

Western Wallabies reflect: Warwick WaughWallaby no.708 Warwick Waugh

By Warwick Waugh 

 

GORDON Bray, the Iconic commentator that brought colour to our game gave me the nick name - “The Gulargambone Giant.”

   

I Cringed! I don’t know what I had more baggage about, being a Giant or the reference to Gulargambone.  

That small one horse town, simple country folk, rough around the edges...  



Whilst it took many years to enjoy the privilege of a 6’8’ stature, my home town heritage never left me and I came to be proud and grateful of two facts. 


One, being a freakishly big and two, and infinitely more important, being raised in Gulargambone. The old adage goes; you can take the boy out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of the boy. Thank Christ for that! 


Probably the best way to describe how I felt in my first couple of years of high school at Scots College would be how a Murray Cod felt in the Menindee a few years back.  I was gasping for air and definitely didn't feel like I should be there. Ironically, it came to serve me well. You learn to trust your instincts when growing up in the bush. 



Finding a home in rugby union

In one of my last visits to the College in 1987 the incumbent second-rower at Randwick 1st Grade and PE Teacher, Warwick Melrose coerced me to head down to Randwick and meet Jeffrey Sayle at the Randwick rugby club.  


After a little afternoon session he poured me into the back of a cab and I found myself at Randwick pre-season training at Latham Park a few days later.  


The fellas around me all had familiar names Campese, Poidevin, McKenzie, Kearns, Ella to name a few.  


Not following rugby that closely from Gular I was nevertheless humbled and impressed by these blokes to say the least, they went ok.  


Whilst (my brother) Duncan and I were schooled in everything from tackling to scrums to touch footy to being turned inside out. They welcomed us. 

It felt like all we had to do was have a crack and it was good enough at Randwick. 


Since leaving Gulargambone I had never felt so at home and on that hot February Saturday afternoon the next chapter in my life began.  


For the next 26 years this intuition served me well. Today I reflect on the luck that led me to Coogee and Randwick.  


Thanks to the opportunity to pull on the boots and wear the Myrtle Green jumper I am enjoying a wonderful life.  


What Gulargambone gave

Without my roots being set on the flat hard country of ‘Nortongong’ and the die being cast by the Gulargambone community I would never have embraced the chance. 


Growing up in the bush taught me many things: Tribalism, my mob, how the community around us shapes us and the values that, if listened to, can serve us but if compromised will divide us.  I gratefully followed those innate values and they led me to where I am today. 


The first is having the head and heart to stand strong - resilience - I know that word gets used too much but it is essential in the bush. 


The second is resourceful. You couldn't run to Bunnings if something broke. Instead you wandered to the scrap heap, worked out how to fix it and got the show back on the road. 


The third was “suck it up.” You didn’t need to go to the doctor if you cut your head open playing silly buggars in the back of the ute. You patched it, learnt from it and got on with it. 


These values and many more taught me well and certainly resonated at Randwick; the bush gave me that.  



Our kryptonite 

The irony is though, with our toughness, resourcefulness and resilience in the bush comes this need to wear the Superman/Woman Cape at all times.  


We could not show weakness, we needed to be on top of our game - “she'll be right, I'm good, no worries, toughen up”….. and so it goes. This is our kryptonite!!! 


I'm not judging this, that's just the way it has evolved and what has made our country, especially the Bush the extraordinary place we live aligning ourselves with mother nature. But when we ask ‘how are you going?’ do we really listen to the answer? 


Often the enquiry into someone’s well being is asked without conviction and is rarely answered truthfully.  


So here is the dilemma: We have communities that care, people who care about those in our communities, people who need these communities and people who can’t ask. 


The Giant from Gulargambone gets together with grassroots fans.



 Find support in sport 

Enter Stage Right: The beautiful medium of Sport and in particular the game of Rugby. 


If you ask me why I played rugby for Randwick, my response is pretty simple. “it felt right, it felt good, I belonged”. 

If you have ever played the game you will know what I am trying to articulate.  


There is something magical that connects us when we take the field, collectively make contact with the opposition for your team and those around you. It is selfless and to play for any other reason will be exposed. 


Life could be belting us from all sides but for that 80 minutes on the field it didn’t matter. 


Somehow for that 80 minute game everything was OK. Of course when the final whistle blew it all returned but it wasn’t going to beat me. 



 Rugby and life 

Rugby, particularly ‘grassroots rugby’ is a wonderful metaphor for life’s experience. 


All the emotions humanity has to offer, can be experienced in that 80 minutes.  


The elation, the camaraderie enjoyment and achieving, scoring tries.  


You can also feel the despondency, despair the injustice, anxiety and all that sits on the pendulum of life's scale. 

But here is the kicker! 


On the Rugby field, with the team, with your tribe cheering you on, you never feel them alone. That's the joy of this great game. 

 


The final three 

I reckon in reflection there's three things that I held dear that this game has directly gifted me by perspective. 


1. It is a the privilege being born and growing up in Gulargambone and raised in the country by parents with country values. 


2. My philosophy when coaching is this: 

“I don't care if you win, I don't care if you lose. But if you F&*K it up, do it at 100% having a crack and I’ll love you, your team mates will love you and your mob will too. 


3. There is always stuff going on off the field that’s hard. It will be there after the game is over so for the next 80 minutes forget about it. You might even solve it on the field! 


Gulargambone etched in my soul the importance of our tribe, who we are, where we’re from and, thankfully, that guided me to Randwick and Rugby. 

Thank you Coonamble and the Classic Wallabies for bringing such an event to the region on 23 April.  

I’m not sure where the grass is greener but I do know that we must keep the grass roots deep and watered. 

 

Editor's note: Warwick Waugh was selected for his first Rugby World Cup in 1995 and went on to play a total of eight Tests for Australia in his five-year international career.