Source :- THE AGE NEWS
As Paul Gallen was being inducted into the NSW Rugby League Hall of Fame on Monday night, video footage of him repeatedly punching Queenslander Nate Myles in the head during a 2013 Origin game was beamed on a giant TV screen inside The Star.
Gallen cringed when he spotted the moment, and sheepishly smiled at the two other inductees sitting on stage, fellow Cronulla legend Andrew Ettingshausen and Balmain’s Benny Elias.
Paul Gallen punches Nate Myles.Credit: Nine
The night Gallen landed a barrage of blows on Myles’ chin also signalled the end of punching in the NRL, with the governing body ruling the next day that any player who threw a punch would be sent to the sin bin.
Gallen rarely speaks about the incident, and 12 years on “hates” the fact it happened and is still a hot topic at this time of year.
“I’m not proud of it, and I would have much rather have won that series than have a fight with Nate Myles,” Gallen said.
“It’s not what I went out to do on the field that night. It’s something that just happened.
“It’s not something I look back on [fondly], I never talk about it. If I go to functions, a lot of people ask about it, but it’s nothing I bring up.
Nate Myles about to cop a punch from Paul Gallen.
“I hate it. It makes you feel uncomfortable. It’s not rugby league. I was never happy it happened. I was never like, ‘f–k yeah, I bashed Nate Myles’. I never once had that attitude.
“Nate Myles and I did things to each other on the football field, if we got caught for it, we’d be suspended ten to 12 weeks, and that was back when we were playing, let alone today. But we never whinged or complained.
“Our attitude was, ‘what happens out there stays out there’.
Gallen and Myles famously starred in an advertisement encouraging men to talk about mental health following the fight.
“I was only doing what I thought was the best thing for the team, and to try and get the victory. That’s all it was. To be talking about a fight 12 years later, I do cringe.”
One of the toughest men to pull on the Blues jersey, Gallen backed Spencer Leniu, NSW’s latest Origin villain, to embrace the Suncorp Stadium hate, but it was important “not to get caught up in the crap”.
Gallen looked at Leniu and the current Blues inside The Star and told them how much they would love playing under coach Laurie Daley.
Leniu has a Queensland target on his back after his public run-in with Maroons’ legend Johnathan Thurston.
Gallen lost count of the times he was booed and jeered by the northern neighbours, and said if anything it motivated him.
As for any advice for 24-year-old Leniu, Gallen said: ”Just don’t get caught up in the crap.
“Remember you’re there to do a job for your team. Pushing and shoving, throwing punches, especially in this day and age, it doesn’t help anyone. Just keep your head.
“For him, he just needs to understand he’s there to do a job for the team. If he does that job we know he can do, he’ll be successful.
“We’ve all got ego, we all want to be the tough guy, but at the end of the day, it’s a team sport, and you need to be there for your team.
“I think he’s got the fastest play-the-ball in the game. He doesn’t have big minutes, but he’s an absolute powerhouse, and the intensity he plays at is through the roof.
“I think as an Origin player coming off the bench, that’s what you need.
“The way they’ve picked this team, with Payne Haas and Mitch Barnett up front, the whole backrow can play 80 minutes, [interchange prop] Max King can play big minutes, Spencer just needs to come on to be that wrecking ball ten minutes before half-time, and ten minutes after half-time.
“You could even take him off at half-time and put him on the last ten or 15 minutes of the match. He only needs to play about 25 minutes and rip and tear.
“He’s a pretty scary bloke to have out there for only 25 minutes, going as hard as he can.”
