I would like to express my gratitude to a long list of friends and acquaintances for their willingness to contribute their thoughts and anecdotes to Line and Strength.
Firstly, all my love and thanks to my family: Jane, James and Holly; my mum, Beverley; my dad, Kevin; and my siblings, Dale and Donna. My appreciation also extends to the following people: my manager, Warren Craig; my personal trainer, Kevin Chevell; Sutherland Sharks stalwarts Steve Rixon and Tom Iceton; my former captains, team-mates and support staff, including Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken, Mark Waugh, Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Phil Jaques, Dom Thornley, Brad Haddin, Michael Hussey, Brett Lee, Trevor Bayliss, Greg Matthews, Daniel Smith, Steve Small, John Buchanan, Pat Farhart, Jock Campbell and Alex Kontouris; former Test players, including the late David Hookes, Rodney Marsh, Doug Walters, Len Pascoe, Geoff Lawson, John Dyson and David Gilbert; my respected opponents Graham Thorpe, Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart (England), the great Courtney Walsh (West Indies), Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan), Russell Arnold (Sri Lanka), Dene Hills (Tasmania) and Tony Fort (Northern Districts, Sydney).
I offer a very special thanks, too, to the great Dennis Lillee for his wonderful and thoughtful foreword. Your sentiments are very humbling, Dennis, and add to the incredible debt I owe you. My gratitude extends to Narromine’s Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, her father, Brian, and rugby league international David Gillespie. To Tracy Bevan, Jane’s dearest friend, I thank you for so much, not least for your insights that appear in this book.
Daniel thanks the following people for their support: his mum, Carol; brothers Richard and Nick; Daniel Scully; Bernie McCarthy; Adam Cox; Karen Grega; Caron LeFever; Peter Gearin; Scott Longmuir; Rob Horton; Ginger Winslow; Ian Heads; Ern McQuillan; Jason Thompson; and John Polly. He also acknowledges a long list of journalists and authors from whose work he sourced information.
To the Random House gang, especially the wonderful Meredith Curnow and Julian Welch, I thank you for displaying a much-welcomed and rare faith in – and passion for – this project. A special mention for a job well done to Jane Gleeson-White – surely the D.K. Lillee of book editors.
And last but not least, a big hug from Daniel for the ever-patient Camille.