52 SPORT SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 2019 Secret pact set Raiders Corey dodges bullet on GF track PETER BADEL DAVID RICCIO IT WAS the secret meeting on IN the bowels of GIO Stadi- soil between Josh um, the Raiders dressing Papalii and that room is buzzing. brokered peace – and put the It’s 10.44pm Friday of last Raiders on the path to the NRL week and are Grand Final. through to their first grand News Corp can reveal how final in 25 years. a heart-to-heart between Pa- Aidan Sezer and Emre palii and Stuart to ease ten- Guler are in charge of the sions over a contract spat Bluetooth speaker, which is helped the pair build an un- blasting a diverse rotation of breakable bond ahead of heavy Drake beats followed tonight’s grand final against by Sam Hunt’s new-school the Roosters at ANZ Stadium. country twang. Papalii will be Stuart’s front- Hunt’s tune is a request row weapon to topple the from Raiders defensive coach Roosters tonight, but six years and proud bushie Brett ago the pair were locked in White. The atmosphere is drama after the Raiders en- boisterous and excited. forcer sensationally reneged on But at the far end of the a deal with Parramatta, where room, a proud mother is sit- Stuart was coaching at the time. ting quietly. As she talks, San- Papalii signed the contract be- dra Horsburgh begins fore a Justice of the Peace and pushing tears from her the Eels were so comfortable cheeks. with the arrangement they “I’m sorry, I still find it even put out a press release on hard to talk about,” says the February 22, 2013 announcing mother of Raiders firebrand the three-year deal. and grand final rookie Corey But within four months, the Horsburgh. deal collapsed. Canberra great “Because it happened , then Queens- around Easter, I don’t like land coach, was summoned by Easter very much.” the Raiders to help convince It’s lucky then, because Papalii to stay at the Green Ma- ANZ Stadium tonight will be chine. The Meninga influence feeling like Christmas for the was pivotal, with Papalii back- Horsburgh family. flipping on the Eels and inking Together, Sandra and a new deal with the Raiders, Rick Horsburgh – a prison Canberra forward was just 14 months old when he was placed in an induced coma Picture: GETTY IMAGES leaving Stuart a shattered man. guard for Woodford Correc- But the saga had one final tional Centre in Queensland Epiglottitis and influenza A. duced coma and they were One was a resuscitation rugby union, cricket, league twist, with Stuart unexpectedly – will stand when the Raiders Epiglottitis is a potentially talking about airlifting him to nurse because he had to have and cross-country. severing ties with the Eels in appear out of the tunnel and life-threatening condition Royal Hospital, but the breathing tube down the Mum and dad flew to Syd- September – just three months without even wanting to, two that occurs when the epiglot- a kid had been kicked by a whole time and the other one ney yesterday ahead of the after Papalii agreed to stay in loving parents will remember tis – a small cartilage “lid” horse so she had priority.” would do observations. grand final, but an indication the nation’s capital. Suddenly, the day they almost lost their that covers your windpipe – Corey had to be transport- “The little thing had two of Rick and Sandra’s pride in the pair would join forces after son. swells, blocking the flow of air ed the 45km by ambulance black eyes and they also gave their son is how a week earlier all, not at Parramatta, but in It will also be emotional into your lungs. under police escort as the him two plastered arms so he they drove 15 hours from Cab- Canberra for the 2014 season. for Corey’s older sister Amy, “He’d been struggling for a portable machine drip-feed- couldn’t rip the tubes out.” oolture to Canberra to watch Brian Edwards, the Bris- who moved from the family while and he wasn’t getting ing the medicine keeping him What’s hard to compre- the Raiders beat Souths in the bane-based scout who first home in Caboolture, at the any better,” Sandra said. asleep had stopped working hend now is that the 188cm preliminary final. spotted Papalii at Logan base of the Sunshine Coast, to “We got him to the local because the battery pack had (6ft 2in) forward who will “It would’ve cost us $1200 Brothers and signed him to a live with her brother and (Caboolture) hospital and we died. run head-on into the Roost- to fly so I drove to save a bit of Raiders scholarship as a 13- work in Canberra. were just lucky the day we “But that’s when the social ers pack tonight was so affec- coin,” said Rick, who was an year-old, revealed the meeting “When I got to the hospi- went, the head of paediatrics worker and priest began talk- ted by the illness that until amateur boxer in his younger between Papalii and Stuart tal, I was confronted by a so- was walking past and he ing to me,” Sandra remem- of eight he would re- days. was a seminal moment in their cial worker and a priest and heard that Corey was click- bers. turn to hospital once a “We drove from Cabool- player-coach relationship. they made me take photos ing when he breathed. “He was in ICU in Royal month. ture to Newcastle – slept for “Josh was pretty upset at with him,” Sandra said “And so the next minute it Brisbane for six days and And yet despite this, Hors- three or four hours, woke up the time about the reporting of through the stream of tears. was like that scene from ER, every hour they (nurses) burgh was so athletically gift- at 3am and got down here at why he didn’t go through with Corey Horsburgh was 14 with the whiteboards and would have to go in and clear ed as a teenager, he knocked 7.30 on the day of the game. the Parramatta deal, but Ricky months old when he was doctors rushing here and his lungs. back repeated offers from “I’d do anything for the spoke about his plans for Josh, placed in an induced coma there. “He had to have two nurs- AFL’s Brisbane Lions, and boy, we’re just so proud of they hit it off and away they after being diagnosed with “He was put into an in- es on him the whole time. played and competed in him.” went,” Edwards said. Lui’s grateful to be in grand final after he repaired his career

DUNAMIS Lui thought his son at the Broncos he has knew it was like a second “When you are by yourself home around my wife and NRL career could be over and spent time at Manly and St Ge- chance for me. I was grateful. I you have plenty of time to daughters.” he was destined to return to orge Illawarra, before finally just fell into the group of boys think. It probably wasn’t good Armed with a Cert III in au- Queensland as a mechanic finding a home as a bench for- we have and everyone is pretty for me,” Lui said. tomotive engineering and Cert three years ago. ward at the Raiders in 2017. close.” “My manager did the best IV in business, Lui had made Instead Lui will come off the “It’s taken me a bit,” Lui Lui’s stint in Canberra was he could to get around me. plans for life after football. An- bench to join Canberra’s en- said. “I have had a pretty long almost a case of one that was When the time came for me to other option was as a personal gine room in their grand final career and to finally make the never going to be. One year start looking elsewhere I actu- trainer, but either way it was a clash with the Sydney Roost- grand final I was stoked (after into a two-season deal at the ally thought maybe that was it. far cry from preparing for a ers tonight, a decade after his beating South Sydney on Fri- Dragons in 2016, Lui found I’d go back to Queensland Cup stack of work through the mid- first grade debut for Brisbane. day of last week). himself battling an achilles in- and just play footy there and dle in the premiership decider Since his breakthrough sea- “Coming to the Raiders I jury and struggling. work. At least I will be back at ANZ Stadium. NTNE01Z01MA - V1