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'Yeah mate, I can see potential in you' - The meeting with Brad Thorn that turned the fortunes of a 3rd XV prop onto the path of professional rugby
As the old sports adage suggests, hard work beats talent and Reds prop Dane Zander is a testament to that.
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Zander missed out on the prestigious Nudgee College 1st XV in his senior year, instead running out for the seconds and even thirds.
Now 20, he’s since paved his own way to professional rugby where he became a regular member of the Queensland Reds matchday 23 in 2020.
In early January Zander made his Super Rugby debut in round one against the Brumbies, becoming the 1346th Queensland representative in a 27-24 loss in Canberra.
“Running out at GIO Stadium, just coming off the bench and being able to play for my State was unbelievable. It was a dream come true for sure,” Zander told RugbyPass.
But that dream seemed out of reach throughout high school, where he sat in the stands to watch the firsts rather than play himself.
Nudgee may be the most recognisable Australian schoolboy rugby factory, known for producing world class talent such as James O’Connor, former Wallaby captain Rocky Elsom, and former Crusaders and Fijian Winger Nemani Nadolo.
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Onion TV documented the culture of the illustrious first fifteen with The Season a year after Zander graduated in 2017, showcasing the highly competitive nature of Nudgee rugby.
The prop admitted that he was disappointed not to have been able to don the blue and white hoops of the Nudgee firsts, but clarified that it wasn’t the be all and end all at the time.
“When I was at school, it wasn’t really a goal of mine [to pursue rugby], I just wanted to play at the highest level I could and play with my mates at school.
“I did the 1st XV preseason but ended up missing out because I didn’t get picked. But I really enjoyed playing seconds and thirds with all my mates.
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“It was a little disappointing but I knew that I probably wasn’t up to the standard back then just because I wasn’t really mature in my rugby game. It was a little disappointing but it wasn’t the end of the world.”
After graduating from Nudgee in 2016, Zander continued his rise through the Queensland rugby ranks with club side Norths. After mainly playing colts at first, he later cemented his place within the Premier Grade squad which led to higher honours.
He was selected in the Brisbane City National Rugby Championship squad in 2019, where his scrum potential caught the eye of Assistant Cameron Lillicrap.
Lillicrap proposed a meeting with Zander and Queensland Reds head coach Brad Thorn, which gave him the opportunity to pursue State honours.
“It was midway through the NRC season, I had a meeting with Cameron Lillicrap and Brad Thorn. Thorny was sort of saying, ‘yeah mate I can see potential in you, and if you cut down a bit of the weight and put some muscle on, you’ll have a good future.’
“I worked massively on my diet. The Reds hooked me up with a dietitian and I went through that and got a meal plan from her. But also the conditioning training, stripping down the weight in the gym.”
He’s since looked to learn off the players around him at the Reds as he continues his incredible rise, which included a start against the Bulls in the final match before the coronavirus outbreak.
“Scrummaging alongside JP Smith, Taniela Tupou and Brandon Paenga-Amosa, I just try to learn as much off them every session because they’ve played at the highest levels of rugby that you can. It’s been awesome learning off them.”
The Reds are now three weeks back into their second pre-season of 2020, with Zander firmly focused on the seasons resumption in July.
“We’ve sort of been focusing on that at training, having no repacks because we’ve seen the New Zealand teams have been doing pretty well in that area. It’s a good thing because it’ll speed the game up a bit cause when there’s about two or three repacks of scrums it can really slow the game down.
“The game will be a bit quicker with the news rules that have come in and it’ll be a really high standard of footy because everyone is really itching to play and get out there.
“I’m extremely keen to get back and start playing again because it’s been a few months since our last game against the Bulls. I think everyone is keen to get out there and have a go.
“I’m super keen to get an opportunity against some Australian teams. It’s all local derby matches each weekend so it’s going to bring the best out of Australian rugby so I can’t wait for that.”
The up-and-comers journey just goes to show that it isn’t where you start but where you finish that counts.
Zander has been selected in the Reds squad for Vodafone Super Rugby AU, where he’ll look to add to his growing number of caps.
The Queensland Reds host the New South Wales Waratahs on July 3rd to kick-off the competition in Australia.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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?
11 Go to comments