The U.S. may have wannabee professional athlete Tim Tebow to dominate the news there, even though there are few, other than his most ardent supporters, who believe Tebow has the chops to play at the top level of either the NFL or MLB, but Australia has boxer Anthony Mundine, who has expressed serious desire to return to rugby as part of the NRL’s St. George Illawarra Dragons.
Mundine is 42 and played over 100 games in the NRL for the Dragons before hopping codes and becoming a most respectable pugilist. Such was his talent at rugby that he wore an NSW jersey three times in the 1999 State of Origin series. He played five-eighth for the Dragons and he is confident that he can still hang with players half his age, but the one thing he never lacked at any time was confidence.
Convincing the board of the Dragons to give him a shot might take every bit of his powers of persuasion, simply to get on the ground for a trial.
Matthew Jones of the Triple M Grill Team supports the idea. “I love it,” Johns said on the Triple M Grill Team. “He’ll give it a crack.”
Penrith Panther great Mark Geyer has the opposite viewpoint, maintaining that Mundine will never be able to get back to a NRL field, but he is still following Mundine’s comeback attempt with interest. “It’s never going to happen. I don’t think he’ll ever play footy again but the fact he wants to have a dig is going to be fascinating to watch,” Geyer said.
One area of major difference in the comparison between Tebow and Mundine is that Mundine actually has true ability.
Then again, if he has not squandered the millions he made as a boxer, perhaps he could buy his own NRL club, or the NRL, for that matter.
