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Message: [QUOTE="McHunt, post: 3569171, member: 9853"] [B][I]Capewell [/I][/B](from old interviews): [INDENT]"I definitely wouldn’t be here without Ben and Shane. I have leant on them throughout my entire career. It was awesome to be a part of the series win last year and I got a bit lucky with that chip kick, but Ben and Shane have given me the confidence to back myself in those sort of situations, so when I do get those opportunities I don’t second-guess yourself. I spoke to Shane about two hours ago. He gave me a ring just to say ‘congrats’ on my selection. They are both always there to help, and when they ring it is always to give me praise. That boosts your confidence, and on top of all that they are very smart footy heads, and it is just good to have them on my side. They make you believe, and that is a big thing with rugby league.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“When I first moved down to Brisbane after school I lived with Ben. Then after that I moved into the city and lived with Shane. I would have struggled to live in the city without them helping me out, and obviously their wives were second mothers to me … cooking and cleaning for me and teaching me the house rules. I owe a fair bit to them. Ben and Shane are very close family friends. Even if I wasn’t playing footy, I would talk to them just as much. Of course, they did get me playing that fun type of footy that everyone loves to watch. I didn’t get where I am the quickest way, but it is good to be finally playing regular NRL and for Queensland. I’m living the dream.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“Uncle Trev Eckel was a huge influence on me and a big part of my childhood. He was always there for me and believed in me. He was also a great character, taught me plenty of magic and card tricks and played pretty much every musical instrument under the sun. He would travel around the polocrosse circuit with us and sit there around the campfire with a guitar and be the entertainer. I did pick up a few of his card tricks and I throw a few of them at the boys every now and then … but I’m not giving away any of my secrets.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“I was lucky the Walker brothers were still coaching Ipswich because there were plenty of times I felt like giving up and not chasing the dream. They made me stick to it, trained me hard and I ended up making it. They’ve always believed in me.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“When I left Ipswich Grammar, I lived with Ben and his family first, and then moved to Brisbane when I was playing with the Broncos 20s and lived with Shane. They both gave me jobs at the time as well, so I owe them a lot. Shane has a labour hire company, so I was a labourer for him for a while. Ben has a real estate agency and I was doing work for him as a handyman and on odd jobs. The 2015 grand final was awesome, just to play with my brother Liam and to be coached by Ben and Shane. It was definitely a turning point. The next year, I got my chance at Cronulla and I’ve steadily built momentum from there.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“We grew up on a little bit of land just outside of town where we could run around and do what we wanted. I was the youngest of four boys and on the losing end of a few fights, but it helped develop me and I look up to my brothers to this day. We had horses and all my brothers played polocrosse for Queensland. Jake played for Australia and I made the Australian squad without getting a game. We looked forward to that every week because unfortunately, we didn’t have the numbers to always play rugby league … but your competitive nature surely doesn’t stop just because you are on a horse.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“Wayne Bennett grabbed me one day and said he had watched one of my brothers play in a final,” Kurt grins. I assumed it was Liam. He said, ‘No, no. He was a shorter, chubbier bloke who broke his hand in the first 10 minutes and finished the game, and was one of their best players’. That was Sam. Sam hangs his hat on Wayne Bennett saying he was the best footballer on the park that day.”[/INDENT] [I]Kurt's mum Lyn, who used to babysit the Walker brothers:[/I] [INDENT]“He’s Kurt Benjamin Capewell. He’s named after Ben Walker. Manly was Kurt’s favourite team when Ben was playing there in the early 2000s. Ben was the kicker, and ever since then Kurt wanted to be a kicker as well. Even now, after Broncos training, Kurt will challenge Reyno to a kick-off for a coffee. When Kurt was a boy, he would practise for hours and then would do 50 or 60 sit-ups before he’d go to bed, because that’s what he’d seen Ben do. He wanted to be a professional footballer from an early age … just like Ben.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“When Kurt was a tiny baby, our son Jake broke his elbow and we both flew by Flying Doctor to Toowoomba. The first person to walk up and meet us when we landed was Ben Walker. Ben was with Garry and Trish, and he took Kurt home in his arms and they looked after him while I went to the hospital. Ben later brought Kurt up to the hospital to have a feed at midnight. He was like a little old nanny himself back then.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“Kurt's uncle Trevor Eckle was a shearing contractor … and one day he set off from a property and walked 60 kilometres all the way into Charleville. Nothing would stop him. He could never play himself, but he was really keen on football and followed Kurt’s career. When you are a little boy, you think everything is magic and Kurt has still got some magic tricks that he learned off Trevor. When he was about 14, he’d bet with people at polocrosse about what the next card would be … and they’d go to pay him, but he’d never take the money.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“Living out west as Kurt did made him more resilient and gave him a never-say-die attitude, which we instilled in all of our boys. Once they got to 14, they ran out of competitions to play in. It has been a long, hard road for him. He never made any representative sides as a young fellow. He got to Ipswich Grammar, played First XV rugby union and was recognised by the AFL and trained with the Brisbane Lions academy. When he was with the Brisbane under-20s, he was doing a carpentry apprenticeship and would be working in Ipswich or the Sunshine Coast and would have to travel back to Brisbane, by train sometimes. He’d get back tired but one way or another, he would always find a way to get there. Kurt has always found a way.”[/INDENT] [I][B]Shane Walker:[/B][/I] [INDENT]“Along with his tricks with cards Trev had magical disappearing thumbs and coins pulled out from behind your ear, all tricks Kurt still has. You go to shake Kurt’s hand and he will tuck his thumb in towards his little finger and before you know it, you are shaking halfway up his arm. He’s always had great sleight of hand as a footballer as well, when need be. That chip infield for a try that fooled everyone on his debut for the Maroons in 2020, when he was playing centre, was right out of that playbook.”[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]“Kurt's brother Jake is as tough as old boots. He’s been a man since he was about seven. They are all tough boys. Sam played in the Ipswich Jets BRL grand final winning side in 2015 with a broken hand. He broke it about two weeks earlier.”[/INDENT] Ben Walker: [INDENT]“There is plenty of magic in Kurt you still haven’t seen. We’ve seen it but the NRL hasn’t. He has got a lot more tricks up his sleeve. Kurt is the best at short kick-offs that I have ever seen and particularly into the wind. When he kicked the winning field goal against Souths in round 1, my second boy, Jack, reminded me that the last time he’d seen Kurt kicking field goals was when we were training at Red Hill back in 2015 on game day, three hours before the Queensland Cup grand final. He was slotting them from everywhere that day and Jack was collecting the balls for him. So we’ve seen the stuff he can do all the time but the NRL hasn’t.”[/INDENT] [INDENT]“Watching Kurt is like watching one of my own boys run around. He was without a club when he came back to the Jets. We got him going again and a few years later, he goes down to the Sharks, wins a comp with Penrith and now he’s killing it at Brisbane. It is great to see.”[/INDENT] [/QUOTE]

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