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It\u2019s Friday, April 4, 2014, and inside the away dressing sheds of the old Sydney Football Stadium, young rugby league player Adam Elliott turns to his Bulldogs teammates for the time-honoured rev-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cC\u2019mon boys, we\u2019ve got to lift to get back into this,\u201d he urges his side.<\/p>\n
They are heavily behind against the Roosters in a National Youth Competition match. In a pocket of the room, one of the team\u2019s smallest players makes a promise to himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll try to make a statement here,\u201d Luke Vella thinks.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs run back onto the field ready to kick-off. The first collision of any half is generally the biggest: think Mark Carroll and Paul Harragon hurtling towards each other with no sense of self-preservation; or James Graham and Sam Burgess in the 2014 grand final.<\/p>\n
On this day, Vella decides he\u2019s going to run faster than anyone and provide an instant lift to his teammates.<\/p>\n
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Bulldogs Jersey Flegg coach Luke Vella.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Rhett Wyman<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cI shot out of the line from the kick-off and I got my head in the wrong position,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI went too low and caught [the attacker\u2019s] hip. I was in and out of consciousness on the field and on the stretcher coming off, and then I was straight to hospital … That stuff is a bit of a blur.\u201d<\/p>\n Less than two weeks before Vella\u2019s career-ending tackle, Alex McKinnon suffered his catastrophic injury in an NRL game in Melbourne, leaving him a quadriplegic. The rugby league world had barely come to terms with what had happened to the promising Newcastle back-rower when another junior player\u2019s life was turned upside down.<\/p>\n The doctors told Vella he had suffered a brachial plexus injury. It meant three of his nerves down the left side of his body had been torn, with no messages being sent from his brain to his arm. It is similar to the injury suffered by former Wests Tigers star Simon Dwyer, whose career was cut short by a tackle in 2011.<\/p>\n What followed were years of rehabilitation for Vella. Five marathon surgeries with the hope of getting some flexion in his left elbow. Countless hospital visits.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s one I remember distinctly,\u201d Vella says. \u201cI was in ICU, but I had to stay in an incubated room where the temperature was over 36 degrees because I had a skin flap attached to my arm which had to be heated. There was no TV, and nurses were coming in and rolling me over to go to the toilet.\u201d<\/p>\n He pauses.<\/p>\n \u201cI try to put that to the back of my mind, but when I think about it, it\u2019s pretty horrific if I\u2019m honest. I was in a pretty dark place after the injury.\u201d<\/p>\n Vella tells the story sitting down among the blue seats of the Belmore Sportsground. In a couple of hours, he\u2019s going to train the Bulldogs\u2019 Jersey Flegg side in preparation for the grand final against the Roosters at CommBank Stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n Their coach never got the chance to see how far he could go with his playing career, but he\u2019s determined to give the next batch of Bulldogs every chance to make the most of their own.<\/p>\n Unconsciously, he shows them what hurdles they might overcome just by practising a training drill. Vella will often jump in at dummy half. When the ball clears the ruck, he picks it up with just his right hand and rifles a one-handed pass Cameron Smith or Danny Buderus would be happy with.<\/p>\n \u201cThis club is very, very special to me,\u201d Vella says. \u201cI played junior league grand finals here when I was nine years old and I\u2019m still here coaching Jersey Flegg at 29. I\u2019ll get emotional if I keep talking about it. They helped me through the darkest time of my life and to come out the other side, I can\u2019t thank them enough for what they\u2019ve done for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Vella rolls into training in his modified Mitsubishi with a steering wheel usually found in a forklift. The blinkers have to be attached to the wheel so he can use them. When he orders a steak from a restaurant, he asks the chef to cut up the meat for him. Every pair of shoes he buys is a size too small, so he can tuck the laces in.<\/p>\n Recently, he\u2019s started playing in a physical disability rugby league side and has been amazed at how much joy others get out of the sport.<\/p>\n Luke Vella at Belmore Sportsground.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Rhett Wyman<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cThere are things you get frustrated with,\u201d Vella says. \u201cBut that gives me a sense of, \u2018What have you got to whinge about?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI look at it, and I could have been a lot worse. There was an injury to a guy I used to play against, Kurt Drysdale [who was left a paraplegic after an on-field accident]. I look at him and look at myself and think, \u2018What are you worried about? That could have been you. Just get on with life\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Life will bring the chance on Sunday to provide some happiness for a club that has been in a rut for longer than their supporters want to remember.<\/p>\n This year, the NRL squad\u2019s training standards and culture have been questioned, but Vella\u2019s Jersey Flegg players get up at 4am on some days to arrive for a 5am weights session, go to work all day, and then return to the club in the evening for a field workout with the coach.<\/p>\n In between his work with the next generation of Bulldogs stars, Vella coaches students at Westfields Sports High. They won the national championship this month. Bulldogs NRL coach Cameron Ciraldo has an open-door policy, which allows Vella to sit in on meetings, and he regularly talks to general manager Phil Gould about the game.<\/p>\n Could he be a future NRL coach?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got time up my sleeve, which is good,\u201d Vella says. \u201cIf I want to challenge myself, that\u2019s the pinnacle of the sport. I think there will come a time when I\u2019d like to push forward to that. But these kids buy into what the club is about. I think the club is about hard work, resilience and turning up when your back is against the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n If that\u2019s the case, then they\u2019ve found the right coach.<\/p>\n Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on <\/b>9Now<\/b>. <\/b><\/p>\n Sports news, results and expert commentary. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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