by Paul Cook –

“When he asks you to come and help out, you say yes,” says Scott Podmore, when asked how he came to be named on the Northern Suburbs team sheet for last Saturday’s Shute Shield game against Manly, despite being happily retired from the game for a year.

The ‘he’ in question is Norths’ captain, Ben Matwijow, a former team mate and erstwhile protégé of Podmore and friends, having done most of his ‘growing up’ as a footy player under the veteran hooker’s watchful eyes.

“People like myself, ‘Lahie’ (former prop Nick Lah) and Steve Evans sort of raised ‘Matj’ as a player and we’re pretty proud of how he’s playing now so I wasn’t going to say no when he called,” explains Podmore. “I wish he’d twisted Lahie’s arm a bit harder than mine because it would have been good to get the band back together but I was happy to help out and hopefully, I was of some benefit.”

The reason for the out-of-the-blue SOS call was the injury crisis the Shoremen suddenly find themselves in at the pointy end of the season. Lying 6th before last Saturday’s round of matches, they had four games remaining to try and secure a spot in the top six and a return to finals football in what is head coach Simon Cron’s first year in charge.

But the sudden loss of two rakes led to Cron and his skipper ‘gently persuading’ Podmore – “I think they must have been sitting next to each other because the texts were coming at the same time too, answering each other’s questions!” – to pull on the boots once more.

“We’ve had to call him out of retirement due to the fact that our 1st and 2nd Grade hookers are down,” explains Cron. “Will Weeks snapped his ankle and Jake Kay has an injured nerve in his neck so we can’t use those two. Sam Kitchen is an up and comer but he’s a young kid and I think from a coaches’ perspective, it was better for us to go in against Manly with an older head rather than put a young kid into that position where, in terms of due diligence, I’ve got to protect them a little bit.”

‘Pods’ packs down with Nick Lah and Al Baxter during one of the 180-odd 1st Grade games in his club career – Photo by Renee McKay/Seiser Photography

Having stuck his hand up on the Sunday, Podmore was forced to endure the infamous ‘Cron fitness test’ for the next couple of nights to suss out his current post-retirement levels. An experience that caused more than a little anxiety as to what he’d gotten himself in to.

“Cronny flogged me Monday and Tuesday and I’ve got to say, after Monday’s fitness test, I was really worried that I’d survive anything because I’ve done absolutely nothing fitness wise since I retired and I’ve put on about 8 kilos as a result – I’ve really been enjoying life!” he laughed.

After a club career that boasted around 180 1st Grade starts for first Parramatta, and then Northern Suburbs, a severe hip injury and the arrival of a second child led to the retirement decision towards the end of last season. He has played one game since, for the Australian Baa Baa’s against a Waratahs A side in February, a match he was supposed to be coaching before another two hookers broke down so he ended up pulling on the boots instead.

Bitten by the coaching bug, he now devotes 20 hours of his week outside of his day job to look after the St Aloysius 1st XV, a role he is thoroughly enjoying. But that didn’t prepare him for the rigours involved in packing down against a traditionally powerful and well drilled Manly eight at 3pm last Saturday afternoon.

“Even when Manly weren’t one of the front runners in the comp, maybe over 10 years ago, they were still hard to scrum against, always had a good maul and we saw that again today,” he told Rugby News at full-time. “The scrums have changed a bit since I last put my head into one. I played in a time when it was just about a big engagement, big hit and get the ball out in three seconds but the boys are working hard for 15-20 seconds now and I felt that.”

What was always likely to be a tough challenge for the visitors proved to be the case, the Marlins running out 39-24 winners with only two late, late scores for the Shoremen offering any kind of solace. But how did Podmore rate his own game?

“I was blowing hard after the first 15 I know that!” he laughed. “I don’t think I was that good today, I was just trying to survive it and keep up with the boys because I didn’t want to let them down. Now that I have survived it, it’s a real positive. I know I wasn’t good but I don’t think I made any mistakes.”

Norths’ coach Simon Cron was impressed with Podmore’s comeback

His coach was a touch more impressed with his 60 minute effort. “For a bloke who’s been out for a year, I thought he did really well. He did the job, he threw good lineouts, he’s got the experience and he’s also got the size,” said Cron.

While Norths have a talented crop of youngsters that will undoubtedly blossom over the coming years, Ben Matwijow, at 26-years-old, is the most experienced in the group. And it is that lack of experience that Podmore himself feels is the difference between a side pushing for finals and one genuinely challenging for the title – at least for now.

“If you look at the two front runners in the competition, Eastwood and Manly both have senior players, guys like Ed Gower and then Ben Batger and Hugh Perrett who have been around as long, if not longer than me,” he reasons.

“Manly’s first try off the back of a lineout today – that ball bounces a different way and Will Miller runs 80 metres to score. There was an intercept in there as well and things like that, when things don’t go your way, are just hard for the younger players to absorb and carry on, that’s probably why Manly are at the top and we’re coming where we are.”

With only three chances remaining to prove themselves as top six material, time is running out. But from what Podmore saw of his temporary team mates, he wasn’t ruling them out. “I was listening to the boys in the sheds afterwards talking about the mathematics of getting to the semis and it’s gonna take a couple of wins and some other results to maybe go their way but I think they can make it, there’s definitely hope there for them.”

Question is, will he be around to help them achieve it?

“I might be involved again next week,” he smiled. “I’m coaching at Alo’s, that’s where my commitment is and I’m really enjoying it. If it wasn’t for the school holidays, I wouldn’t have been able to play at all. We’ve got a trial game at lunch time this weekend so I might be able to do my job there and get to the Norths game as well and be involved in some capacity but, no, I’ve no plans to come out of retirement permanently.”

Same time next year then Pods…