28

MY NAME IS DEADLY D

It wouldn’t be a normal game-day preparation without Justice doing his ‘get Dylan angry’ ritual. As the warm sun shines down, we arrive at our usual spot, just under the bridge near Broncos Stadium.

‘I’ve seen your ‘top 5’ list brah. I hope you aren’t going to use any of those tricks on me today,’ I say.

Justice smiles cheekily. ‘No way cuzzy, I’ve thought of a new one!’ He reaches into his bag and pulls out a roll of sticky tape. ‘Put your back against the tree and your hands behind the trunk,’ he says like a police officer.

I do as I’m told. Justice then pulls out a jar of peanut butter and a rubber glove.

‘What’s that for?’ I ask.

Justice squeezes his hand into the glove. ‘You’ll see,’ he says, dipping his hand into the jar and rubbing peanut butter over my face, arms and legs. I stick my tongue out. Mmm, crunchy.

Justice then pulls another jar from his backpack, except this one isn’t peanut butter. He pours sticky golden liquid over my head.

‘What’s with the honey?’ I ask, wriggling my hands, still tied together behind the tree trunk.

‘You’ll soon find out!’ laughs Justice.

I squint through my honey-drowned eyes. I can already feel ants crawling up my legs, but when I see what Justice pulls from his bag next, I know it’s not the ants that he’s trying to attract! Out comes a box that says ‘Chirpy Bird Seed’.

‘Be careful bro, you don’t want this getting in your eyes!’ instructs Justice.

He opens the top of the box and throws the seed all over me. The seeds stick to the honey that’s in my hair, face, neck and everywhere else!

‘This trick is totally lame! It doesn’t even get in your top five!’ I say, spitting out bird seed.

Justice pulls the last item out of his bag. It’s a book called Australian Bird Calls. He leans against the tree opposite me and opens it. He stops at a page and whistles. He looks up in the air and tries again. This time it’s one short whistle followed by two longer whistles and then another short one. The sound of wings can be heard flapping towards us. A bright green and red bird with a blue tail lands on my head and starts pecking at the seed. This is followed by second and a third. Soon my entire body is swarming in rainbow lorikeets! They peck, scratch and claw, and do droppings in my hair. The sound is even worse, and the screeching make my hands shake. I know what is about to happen.

Justice puts his book down and hides behind the tree, peeking out every now and then. In just a few seconds, my transformation is complete and I break free of the sticky tape. The birds fly off in fright from the huge, muscly, hairy man that used to be a kid. Justice comes out from behind his tree.

‘AAAGGHHH!,’ I growl.

‘You like that one Deadly D?’ he smiles, handing me a wet cloth to wipe the gunk from my muscles.

‘Yeah, put that one at the top of the list.’

We take the field for our warm-up, and I get goose-bumps. Nanna’s down from Mount Isa to watch the game with Mum. Coach Bennett has organised the best seats in the house and they’re right on halfway, next to the Warriors bench. The size of the crowd is amazing. Some of my fans have driven six or seven hours just to be here. There are kids holding up signs that say things like, ‘Welcome Back, Deadly D’, and ‘Deadly D 4 Life’.

Everyone is chanting, ‘Dead-ly D, Dead-ly D!’ I can hardly hear Coach Bennett over the noise.

Suddenly, one of the Warriors players comes over and interrupts our warm-up. This has never happened before. It’s Simon Mannering, the Warriors captain and back-rower. He walks up and puts his hand on my shoulder.

‘I’m glad you came back to our game, Deadly. Good luck tonight,’ he says, shaking my hand.

‘Thanks’, is all I can manage in reply. What a nice guy. Still, that won’t count for much when he’s trying to tackle me later on.

Coach Bennett changes our drill and we practise our hit-ups. I put a practice pad over my shoulder and brace myself as Adam Blair runs towards me. He bounces off me and off loads the ball to Matt Gillett. Ouch. I’m out of practice. I better harden up if I’m going to take the impact of the Warriors front row.

Josh McGuire is next in line and he runs at me like a steam train. This time I push towards him before he collides with me. He bounces backwards, landing at the feet of Coach Bennett. I run over and help him up.

‘Good hit,’ says McGuire, running back to the line.

Coach Bennett walks over and looks me in the eye. ‘Are you ready to play for us again?’ he asks seriously.

‘I’m more than ready, Coach.’

‘How do I know for sure?’ he asks again.

I look up at Mum and Nanna in the stand. I think about seeing Dad in my dream. ‘There are people who have put their faith in me. I’ll never let them down.’

Coach Bennett nods his head, smiles, and then pats me on the back. That’s his way of saying, ‘Make sure you do what you say you’re going to do’.

After warming up, we take the field for kick off. We huddle in a circle and hold on to each other’s shoulders. Our captain tells us what we need to do to win. We listen to him. Tonight we are brothers. The huddle breaks up and we take our places. The referee blows his whistle and we send the ball down field. As we meet the attackers in our defensive line, I make the first tackle and my body tingles. I can’t wait to do it again. The music pumps through the stadium’s speakers and the roar of the crowd fill my ears.

Tonight, I am representing my family, my people and my club. Tonight, I am sure of one thing — my name is Deadly D, and I’m here to play football.