He has bamboozled opposition defences, impressed the experts and inspired supporters across the competition. For the man they call “the Fox”, Josh Addo-Carr, 2017 has been an almost perfect season.
He scored the winning try in his first home game for Melbourne Storm against Brisbane Broncos three rounds into the season. A week later, he scored a long range wonder try against his old club, Wests Tigers. And in the preliminary final last Friday night, he scored the Storm’s first try to set up a 30-0 victory over the Broncos. This weekend, he could be the player to decide the NRL grand final.
Signed by Melbourne from the Tigers, where he struggled for game time last season, this year Addo-Carr has played all 26 games for the Storm and crossed over for 21 tries. Remarkable though his breakthrough season has been, for those who have watched his him play from a young age, it comes as no surprise.
The 22-year-old flyer is the product of two Indigenous clubs from Sydney: La Perouse Panthers, where he played junior footy, and the Redfern All Blacks, who he helped win the NSW Koori Knockout in 2015 and 2016.
Speaking at Queensland’s Murri Carnival last weekend, Redfern All Blacks coach and NRL legend Dean Widders said Addo-Carr is “one of the best wingers in the competition”. One of his junior coaches at La Perouse, Clint Cooke, said “every time I see him on the field it gives me a massive smile”. And ABC Indigenous affairs editor Stan Grant, who has watched Addo-Carr since his junior days in South Sydney, believes he has “taken the confidence of playing in the Koori Knockout into the NRL”.
Founded in 1971, the Koori Knockout is the largest Indigenous rugby league tournament in the country. Two years ago in Dubbo, when Addo-Carr was an unknown rookie with the Wests Tigers, he was a standout player in Redfern’s famous golden point win over the Newcastle All Blacks.
Redfern were trailing by eight points with just a few minutes remaining when Addo-Carr changed the game. First, he crossed over for a magnificent try to bring Redfern within two points. Then, in the dying moments, he came in off his wing, stole the ball from a Newcastle player and earned a penalty.
Shane Nolan-Carr converted the resulting penalty kick from the halfway line to send the game into extra-time. From there another NRL star, Jonathan Wright, scored in the corner to win the game for Redfern. The incredible grand final, as NITV later reported, was “the best of all time at the Knockout”.
Widders believes Addo-Carr’s never-say-die performance in that grand final proved he had what it takes to make it in the NRL.
“He hadn’t played first grade when he came and played for us up in Dubbo,” explained Widders. “So he was still a bit of an unknown. He came up with some massive plays. He scored a try on the left side, and then he came up with probably the play of the century when he stole the ball with only a minute to go. That’s a winger stealing one to win the game.
“I thought, ‘This kid’s got the toughness and a hunger and a passion that not many people do.’ Most wingers would be standing there, game over, just catching their breath. He was in there still fighting for that win. That tells you he’s just got something about him, and it’s coming through now [in the NRL].
“It was the first time he’d been to a final at Knockout, so to learn how to get through that mental battle, to fight through it and come out the other side, that puts you in a good place for first grade where you have to do that every weekend.”
La Perouse junior coach Clint Cooke, who coached Addo-Carr in the Under-14s, said “Foxy” has always been a great team player. “He was always the life of the party, a funny kid who was always happy and smiling,” remembers Cooke. “I tried to watch him play in the Under-20s with the [Cronulla] Sharks, and I’ve watched every Knockout game he played. He’s definitely one of the stars. He’s the kind of young man that would do anything for his community and for his team-mates, which I’ve seen through the Knockout and when he’s playing in the NRL.
“La Perouse and Redfern have formed quite a strong bond, in my opinion – both from Sydney and both predominately Aboriginal communities. We both support each other. Whenever La Pa plays Knockout, if we get knocked out we’re always cheering on the people we know in the Redfern community.”
The Koori Knockout is held over the October long weekend, meaning that every year it clashes with the NRL grand final. That doesn’t stop players and supporters flocking to the Knockout, however. In 2014, former South Sydney winger Nathan Merritt missed the Rabbitohs’ NRL grand final celebrations to play Knockout for the Redfern All Blacks in Raymond Terrace. And every year many NRL players ignore the advice of their clubs to return and play for their mob.
“Some managers don’t like us playing in the tournament,” Addo-Carr told Guardian Australia last year, “but it’s very important and we won’t back down on it.”
Stan Grant, whose son Dylan plays for the Redfern All Blacks, said the Knockout is “a huge cultural event”.
“I think the football reflects that,” said Grant. “The football that is played at the Knockout is an expression of who we are – our culture, our sensibilities. The freedom that people play with is something that you don’t get in a structured club environment, and I think for a lot of NRL scouts, they see players with raw talent that they can develop.
“Josh is a great example. Here’s someone who has had to overcome obstacles, who has had some highs and lows in his career and then goes back to that football that he knows, in the community that he’s from, and shines.
“This time last year he was playing for the Redfern All Blacks. This year he’s playing in the grand final for Melbourne. But the thing is, he’s playing the same football for Melbourne. This shows the brilliance of Craig Bellamy’s coaching. Josh is playing the football that he played at the Knockout. It’s exuberant, he’s free to back himself… I think that’s been really instrumental in his success.”
Widders confirmed that Addo-Carr would have played for the Redfern All Blacks this weekend had the Storm not qualified for the NRL grand final. As the RAB prepare to host the Knockout this weekend, they will be following one of their own on the biggest stage of all.
“He said he’s definitely playing [for Redfern All Blacks] if he’s not in the [NRL] grand final,” said Widders. “But everyone wants him in that [NRL] grand final. He deserves it.”
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