League: Flying dynamo proves the naysayers wrong

Isaac Luke says he plays on instinct. Photo / Mark Mitchell

He's already the best running hooker in the world but Issac Luke is just getting started.

At least that's how he sees it. Had it not been for a shoulder injury in training he might have won the Dally M for wowing them at South Sydney but, as far as the 23-year-old dynamo is concerned, he hasn't even arrived yet.

Those junior rugby union coaches back home in Taranaki, and the wise-heads at the Bulldogs who axed him after two years in the lower grades because he was too small to ever be successful in the top flight: they haven't seen anything yet.

"I don't think the message has gone through yet," Luke says. "There is a lot to work on, a lot of improvement. I think I'll know when it really happens."

There's no element of boast in his words. Quite the opposite. Trying to get Luke to self-assess is like trying to get your hands on him in one of those blazing dummy-half bursts. Mention of the Dally M is greeted with: "Oh well, I try not to think about that."

When pressed that it would have meant he was rated the best player in the game - a handy achievement for a bloke who was told he'd never make it - he comes up with: "I don't really care about that. I just want to play football."

He's not being deliberately obtuse. It's just the way he is. Talking about himself may be part of his job - and he always makes himself available - but you sense it doesn't bring him much delight.

Sam Burgess, the English forward who this week said he'd like to put a trademark big hit on the Kiwis hooker, is Luke's closest friend at South Sydney.

"He's been a good bloke, he's really helped me off the field and I have got close to him and his family," Burgess said.

"It will be a bit weird playing against him but I am looking forward to it. There will be a few verbals in the scrum."

Shouting at Luke might be as close as Burgess gets to fulfilling his wish. He admitted that, other than deny him fast play-the-balls by manhandling the Kiwis forwards, there was no blueprint for successfully defusing Luke. "Issac is virtually unstoppable at times. He is fast, quick on his feet and strong."

Yet Luke's career nearly didn't happen.

"I was really, really lucky, to tell you the truth," he says. "I wasn't a normal hooker, I was a halfback or fullback."

And a winger. The last time Luke played in Wellington it was for the region's National Junior Championship side in a final against Auckland.

Luke played on the wing, where he matched up against Cooper Vuna. Hardly an even contest in terms of size, but certainly favourable when one considers that Manu Vatuvei was on the other flank for the northerners.

Wellington won that match, as they did every match that year. Luke's centre partner was fellow Kiwi Sika Manu, and the pair also played alongside Simon Mannering in Wellington's Bartercard Cup side.

The gifted trio moved swiftly enough into the NRL and international ranks, although the two unsuccessful years at the Bulldogs don't hold fond memories.

"I couldn't secure a spot. They didn't think I would play first grade. They thought I was too small."

A Wellington newspaper this week portrayed Luke as annoyed he hadn't been granted a starting place against England. Asked how he'd approach the match he responded along the lines of "I'm on the bench, so if I get on ...". Hardly a dummy spit. And the answer is he'll play the way he always plays.

"I'll just try to play it on instinct. Hopefully I see some people lying on the ground and I can go."