By Emma Kemp
The Sydney Roosters got creative on their socials this week, rolling out the players (literally on scooters) to drum up interest in a game that would have been momentous regardless of how it played out.
“Hey guys,” Luke Keary addressed the fans via Instagram. “Show up for JWH – you might see him get sent off.”
It was a decent tip. Those who took the advice and purchased tickets to Sunday’s 42-12 win over the Dragons were treated to a series of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves exhibits so specific to the player and appropriate to the setting that his record 307th NRL game for the club almost felt performative.
Big hits? Tick. A sin-binning? Oh yes. Six stitches in the head? Correct.
The more obvious milestone markers were there, too. Waerea-Hargreaves received all the official fanfare that should come with such an occasion, including a pre-match guard of honour comprising current teammates and members of the 1974 premiership team.
He strode out onto Allianz Stadium to play the game that would confirm he had usurped Mitch Aubusson as the Rooster with the most club appearances of all time. His wife and three children were waiting on the field for a pre-match embrace. Everybody cheered and sang the club song. He wore a special jersey with a gold No.8.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is sin-binned on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images
The actual 80 minutes, however, were out of the control of anybody but the big man himself. It could have been a Sunday arvo fizzer to match the half-arsed drizzle that fell over Moore Park. The first clue this would actually be a Waerea-Hargreaves classic arrived in the opening seconds, when the 35-year-old threw himself into the opening tackle off the kick-off – a three-man takedown of Francis Molo.
Another came a few minutes later, when he took on four defenders and drove all 116kg of himself to the line. He was narrowly denied the opening try but paved the way for Sam Walker to bestow that honour on Victor Radley with a grubber.
But the real good stuff happened just after the 15-minute mark, when Waerea-Hargreaves exploded out of the line and collected Max Feagai flush and a wee bit high for Ashley Klein’s liking. The referee was straight on it, raising his arms and citing “a level of high force there” that warranted 10 minutes in the bin.
“That’s not 10, Ashley,” Waerea-Hargreaves repeated, before perhaps accepting that this really would not be a milestone game without going on report. It was a pre-ordained legacy. An exact science. The most obvious multi on the betting market. The most surprising thing about it was the fact this was only his 10th sin-binning to date.
This is the same guy who has spent his career sailing so close to the wind that he would have made it to his 307th game almost a full season ago had he not missed 23 matches through suspension. The non-believers will figure he would not yet be anywhere near that many had the judiciary given him fewer fines and more bans. Whichever way you spin it, the semi-regular enforced rest cannot have been too bad a thing for a prop more enduring than most.
And even after he had trudged back down the tunnel for his time-out in the sheds, he was still kind of present: his grin plastered on those freaky cardboard cutouts speckled through the stands, until he returned just in time to watch Walker convert Dom Young’s try at the corner and embark on phase three of the Waerea-Hargreaves expo.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves celebrates his 300th match with his three children and wife Chelsea.Credit: NRL Photos
This involved blood. Not bad blood, but showbiz blood. A trickle from a cut near the eye that became a smear and then full coverage of the face. A flesh wound worthy of a standing ovation and a jaunty stroll along the sideline. He showboated the whole way to the bench to get his gash seen to.
Someone handed him a water bottle; he took a sip but did not pour any on his wound. He was given a towel, but did not immediately use it to wipe said wound. He beamed and peacocked. And god help us, because we can’t stand the overused gladiator-in-the-colosseum analogy this sport seems obsessed with, but it was so hard not to go there during this glorious, gory parade. Spartacus was in the house, and eastern Sydney’s latte-sipping Romans were entertained. Then he got six stitches at half-time.
“I could feel it,” Waerea-Hargreaves said afterwards. “I was like, ‘this is footy, man. This is why I play it. This is how I play it’. I truly love it, and that’s all part and parcel of what we do. You’ve got to be willing to give it, but you’ve also got to be willing to take it.”
It was, as coach Trent Robinson said, “exactly how one of Jared’s games should go”. Waerea-Hargreaves was also consistent, finishing the game with 143 run metres – more than any other middle forward.
After it was over – not quite the 60-18 trouncing of ANZAC Day but still emphatic – the persona shifted back to the “big cuddly bear” (Boyd Cordner’s words) his family, teammates and rivals know off the field. He spoke of feeling honoured, and also overwhelmed by the texts and phone calls he’d received from friends, ex-coaches and other figures in the game throughout the week.
“Pretty humbling, really,” he said. “I came here as a 19-year-old and was fortunate just to play one season, let alone 15. The supporters and fans have been such a massive part of what we’ve done over this time. And to get that amount of support, it’s why you do it.”
The quintessential gentle giant who turns into something else entirely once a game gets going. The Kiwi Adrian Morley with three times the appearances. Who plays rugby league, in the words of Morley himself, “the way the game should be played” by a front-rower.
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