ONE of the stories of St Pat’s season so far in 2008 has been the return of half-back Josh Laurie after a two year absence from the club and his role in propelling the side all the way to the Group 10 premier league grand final this Sunday.
Laurie was with the club during some successful but ultimately unfulfilling years from 2003 through to 2005 while studying at CSU.
Having taken a break from his studies, he returned home to Tamworth and took up employment with his old school at Farrer Agricultural College.
It was to prove a good decision – Laurie was part of back-to-back Group 4 titles in 2006/07 with the North Tamworth Bears, who also won in 2005.
Now he finds himself as a key figure for St Pat’s in their quest for their first premiership in seven years, which would give Laurie a satisfying hat-trick.
“While I was with the Bears I was only able to play home games due to work commitments. The only time I was playing each week was during finals,” Laurie said ahead of this Sunday’s decider with Mudgee.
“That made things pretty tough and it was hard to find consistent form and to get combinations right so it has been great to play for a whole season this year.”
Laurie made plenty of semi-finals in his first incarnation as a St Pat’s player but the main prize eluded him.
On a note of personal satisfaction he was able to play for Group 10, but listening too him now is to hear a player who was clearly disappointed that his club did not achieve more at the time.
“This time around though we have really put in, we are not a bunch of champions but we all work hard for each other and play well together,” he said.
“The side seems to get along perfectly with one another and are always helping each other on the field.”
Laurie’s own form has been mixed according to the man himself though he said with more and more game time under his belt, he has improved as the season has progressed.
“I think generally I’ve been ok and directed things around well, I like the half-back role and doing that sort of job,” he said.
“I think my defence has been pretty sound as well after being a bit slow at the start of the season, and the combinations took a little while to work out but came good during the middle part of the season.
“The biggest thing for me is that I have not been taking the line on enough and I would like to start doing that a bit more and it’s something to work on.”
With another decider ahead of him, you could be forgiven for thinking Laurie would be used to the build-up and preparation for a grand final after the events of recent years, but you’d be wide of the mark.
“I haven’t given it much thought at the moment,” he said.
But come Thursday and Friday I will start to feel it and there will be some butterflies in the stomach for sure.”
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