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Message: [QUOTE="Super Freak, post: 2754412, member: 8536"] [B]Broncos legend’s legacy is the contracts he didn’t sign[/B] COREY Parker’s love for the Broncos was defined by the contracts he refused to sign. They came in the year 2001. One from Canterbury worth $170,000 and another from the Storm for $180,000. He gave both fleeting thought but even though he was house hunting at the time and had only a few pennies in the bank he could not find it within him to put pen to paper. Instead he signed for Brisbane for $80,000. “It was all I wanted to do,’’ said Parker, who had been craving to wear a Broncos jersey since he was taken to the airport to greet the players after they won a premiership 25 years ago. “I knew if I could make it here I could make it anywhere and I played for Australia that year.’’ This story won’t shock young players at the Broncos because Parker has told it to most of them. The simple moral, he tells them, is be happy, be settled, look after the club and if you shine you will eventually get what you deserve. In essence it was the story of his career. For many years he seemed to be the player who did everything and nothing but then he blossomed into one the game’s finest. Parker, the man and the player, is as an amalgam of forces new and old. He was raised in an old-fashioned era and there were days when he and Shane Webcke would be having a deadly serious, young bull-old bull wrestle on the training park while the rest of the group were at the other end of the field. Parker may have been ruffled and offended but he never backed down. There were times when he resented the pecking order but in later years he grew to realise its benefits. “That’s how footy was,’’ he once said. “There was a really good core of older guys. It was sink or swim. It worked for me. It may not work for others. “I was 18, I might have thought I was the bee’s knees and they might have been trying to bring me down a peg or two, and that might have been needed.’’ Parker was constantly shunned from State of Origin teams in the middle of his career amid whispers that he was a “different’’ character who did not fit the mould. It hurt him. “I sat on the sidelines for six years burning every time I watched because I really wanted to play,’’ he said. But opinions mellowed as Parker grew as a player and man. He magnificent ability to unload in the tackle improved to the point that the great Arthur Beetson would have been proud to own his off-loads. And, match after match, he made less errors than a forensic tax accountant. There was never any doubt that Parker was his own man. This was evident in his decision, for many years, to defy modern trends and shun managers and negotiate his own contracts. A keen student of all things rugby league, he knew what he was worth and argued accordingly, even enjoying the bargaining process. As far as professionalism went he was the ultimate performer. Former Broncos coach Anthony Griffin said Parker’s weight management was so skilful he could get to within one gram of the limit set for him. When Parker took the field, fresh faced and nervous, in his very first game for the Broncos he sensed trouble, and he was right. He looked at 110kg Warriors prop Ali Lauititi bringing the ball back from a dropout and thought “you are going to try and run over the top of me.’’ And he did, barely breaking stride. Parker was rocked but he got up, shook himself off, learnt from the experience and moved on. Rising from setbacks made him what he was. [URL="http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/teams/broncos/corey-parker-retires-broncos-legends-legacy-is-the-contracts-he-didnt-sign/news-story/4ec7d28df1a0c35b1aef757b4e5742a9"]No Cookies | The Courier Mail[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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