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'Wallaby in the making': Teenage Reds rookie stars on Super Rugby debut after just seven hours of notice
The Reds may have fallen to their third defeat in four Super Rugby Trans-Tasman matches against the Blues on Friday, but the Queenslanders have at least one positive to take out of their 31-24 loss.
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Injuries to key playmakers James O’Connor and Bryce Hegarty forced head coach Brad Thorn to make some late adjustments to his backline, which led to a debut for highly-touted teenager Mac Grealy.
At the age of just 19, Grealy was tasked with preparing for a showdown with the unbeaten Blues in front of his home fans on the back of only seven hours of notice.
With kick-off scheduled for 7:45pm local time, Grealy revealed he was only notified that he would be playing in the match while he was watching the NBA at around lunchtime that day.
“It’s been a pretty crazy couple of days. Yesterday, Rabsy [O’Connor] went down so sort of knew Hegarty went into 10 and Hamo [Hamish Stewart], but then Hegarty was a bit of a hit or miss with his hamstring,” Grealy told Stan Sport after the match.
“I was just sitting around watching a bit of basketball, actually, with my roomies and then I got a call from Thorny around 12:30 and then knew it was game time.”
As daunting a prospect that may have seemed, Grealy handled the weight of expectation superbly as he acquitted himself against a Blues side that featured a total of nine All Blacks.
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Proving he was no slouch with ball in hand, the former schoolboy sensation – who shunned the NRL to sign with the Reds – ran for 77 metres from just seven carries as he showed glimpses of his potential as a future Reds star.
Grealy’s impressive debut didn’t go unnoticed, as Stan Sport pundit and former Wallabies midfielder Morgan Turinui expressed his awe at how well the youngster adapted to his call-up so close to kick-off.
“I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t have coped with that late a call-up, that’s for sure. What an impressive young man he was,” Turinui said when asked how he would have fared if put in a similar situation as a 19-year-old.
“There’s been a fair bit of buzz around Mac for a while. He could have taken the rugby league pathway, he was a genuine schoolboy hero from that Toowoomba region, so great to see him stay in rugby.”
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While ex-All Blacks first-five Andrew Mehrtens added that Grealy “didn’t look out of place by any stretch”, Turinui took note of how well he played considering the loss of both O’Connor and Hegarty shortly before the match.
“We talked about it maybe being easier with the lead-in, but in terms of the team that he walked into, no Hegarty, no O’Connor, Stewart fronting at 10, it’s not an easy footy situation that he walked into to perform, and he did admirably well, didn’t he.”
Grealy impact wasn’t lost on Queensland fans either, as plenty took to Twitter to praise the teenager, whose mentor while at Toowoomba’s Downlands College was ex-Wallabies lock Garrick Morgan.
One supporter even went as far to suggest Grealy could be in line for Wallabies honours himself at some stage down the line, while another said his efforts were “not bad for a bloke who only just learnt how to shave”.
#REDvBLU #SuperRugbyTransTasman #SuperRugby Celebrating achievement is what we do in Rugby so congratulations to the Reds Mac Grealy on his debut, played well too, hopefully a Wallaby in the making, well done to the young fella.
— Shane Moran (@scoolm8) June 4, 2021
Great interview with Mac Grealy. 19?! 7 hours prep for his first ever Super Rugby game. Brilliant debut. And total natural on camera. Will be looking out for this fella.#REDvBLU #SuperRugbyTT #SuperRugbyTransTasman #SuperRugby
— Declan Keyes-Bevan (@deckeyesbevan) June 4, 2021
This Mac Grealy dude looks promising
— Zach (@ZachryaAfiq) June 4, 2021
I’ll tell you what, for a bloke who got called up just hours before the game Mac Grealy isn’t looking out of place. #REDvBLU
— Brittany Mitchell (@BrittMitchell11) June 4, 2021
Grealy done really well at 15 for the Reds tonight. Debut with 5 hours notice as has been solid at the back. Some nice runs and kicks. Not bad for a bloke who only just learnt how to shave. #REDvBLU
— Huw Tindall (@HuwTindall) June 4, 2021
Despite Grealy’s eye-catching induction into Super Rugby, the defeat leaves the Reds languishing in sixth place on the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman standings with just five competition points to their name.
If Thorn is as impressed by Grealy as the likes of Turinui, Mehrtens and many Reds fans are, the fullback may feature in the Reds’ final match of the season against the Hurricanes in Wellington next Friday.
Comments on RugbyPass
NZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
22 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
22 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
22 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
22 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
22 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
22 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to comments