Former foes in reunion
NRL pair’s bid for history
After over a decade of going head-to-head in the NRL, Joel Thompson and Kevin Proctor are on the cusp of delivering Currumbin a special Rugby League Gold Coast premiership.
But it isn’t the first time the pair have lined up together.
18 years ago in 2006, the pair boarded a plane to the United Kingdom to embark on the trip of a lifetime – an Australian Schoolboys tour.
“We killed it, we had a gun side,” recalls former Titans captain Proctor of the trip.
The pair may not have distinct memories of one another, but that they have been brought back together after all this time isn’t lost on them.
“It was pretty cool when I heard he was coming down here, we hadn’t played with each other for 18 years, it’s a good little flashback,” Thompson, who played 255 NRL games, said of Proctor.
“It just shows with footy the full circle, obviously starting way back then and now we’re out here running around at a club like this is pretty cool.”
Proctor also has a special connection with Currumbin’s coach, Melbourne great Matt Geyer, who he played alongside at the Storm in 2008.
“That’d be really cool, I’ve thought about that,” Geyer said of coaching Proctor to a premiership after calling him an NRL teammate all those years ago. “My son (Nash) was a little boy then, he was seven, eight years old, and now he’s playing next to Kev like I did, it’s really cool.”
Unsurprisingly, it was Geyer who lured Thompson to the Eagles ahead of this season, and the EX-NRL man has fallen in love with the club ever since.
“It’s a really good club, real supportive, real community club, the families all come here,” Thompson said.
“They have good supporters, there’s lots of old fellas that have been around the club for a long time and it was very emotional when we won it for them (in the semi-final).”
Come Saturday’s grand final against sworn enemy Tugun – Currumbin’s first since 2008 – both Thompson and Proctor have their eyes firmly fixed on the premiership prize.
Since he walked through the door mid-season, Proctor – who is a Currumbin junior – has made it clear that he wants to deliver the Eagles their first A-grade premiership.
“That was my goal, I always wanted to come back here after I finished playing professionally,” Proctor said. “If we can come back here and win one it’d make it a lot more special.”