Kurt Mann's Maroons State of Origin debut reward for toughness shown in junior days

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

Queensland debutant Kurt Mann is one of the NRL's toughest players and it all goes back to the day he played a rugby league match and ran a cross-country with turmeric powder stuffed up his nose.
Mann is set to get his first taste of State of Origin from the Maroons' interchange bench in the second match of the series in Perth next Wednesday.
ABC Sport will have live blog coverage of the State of Origin series.
The Canterbury utility grew up in the Central West Queensland town of Winton and attended St Brendan's College in Yeppoon.
Mann was coached by Terry Hansen at St Brendan's, a well-known rugby league nursery.
Hansen never went to a match without a can of turmeric powder in his back pocket, forever confident in the spice's healing powers.
Mann was in grade 11 and playing for St Brendan's A side when he suffered a nose injury.
Hansen grabbed the bloodied Mann and put the turmeric powder up his nose before he returned to the match and played exceptionally for his team.
"'Hanso' put the turmeric up my nose because I broke it," Mann said with a grin.
"We had the school cross-country the next day and he made me run in it with a broken nose too. I couldn't breathe out of it because I had a turmeric pack up my nose.
"He has done a couple of strange things to me, Hanso.
"I got a cork another time and he got a cup and lit a bit of paper. He put the paper in the cup while it was on fire and stuck it on my leg and sucked my leg into the cup like a vacuum.
"Hanso was a great coach and a great mentor to me at St Brendan's. He taught me a lot about footy and toughness as well."
At 32, Mann will become Queensland's second-oldest State of Origin debutant, behind the late Arthur Beetson in 1980.
His journey to the Origin arena follows stints in the NRL with the Storm, Dragons, Knights and Bulldogs, who he joined in 2024.
Mann has played a crucial role for the Bulldogs, who lead the ladder after 14 rounds.
"At the start of the year, I probably would have thought all this [State of Origin] was kind of past, me being the age I am, but it's a credit to the team we have at the Bulldogs," Mann said.
"I probably wouldn't have been a look-in if it wasn't for the way we've started the year there, so [I'm] really excited, especially being a boy from Winton.
"It's a lifelong dream to represent my state."
Mann is the ultimate utility, having plugged positional holes throughout his NRL career.
"I've actually started a game in every position, bar front-row," he said.
"I've played a little bit of front-row as well, a couple of weeks back against the Roosters.
"I've played enough footy now that I think I can get the job done wherever."
Mann said Winton would celebrate his Origin debut.
"It'll be huge," Mann said.
"When they found out I was 18th man last game … there's a big water tower in town and it's usually white, but they turned it all maroon.
"I don't know how they managed that, so I think it'll be a pretty good atmosphere in Winton."
AAP