League: A change of Luck sought

He might not come with the flashy clothes and the flashy reputation but Michael Luck thinks he has something every team needs.

One of three Warriors recruits for the 2006 NRL season, the 23-year-old Queenslander is a workaholic, who bases his game around a strong defence.

While a lot of second-rowers like to crash and bash, or offload the ball like it's a hot potato, Luck is the antithesis of this. "I'm a different sort of player to the second-rowers and locks who are here," he explained after yet another tough training session at the Warriors, which had started at 6.30am. "I'm a work-rate player. I make tackles and I try to be the first one back on the kick-chase.

"My reputation isn't based on a power game, although it's something I'm working on. I've never been an outstanding player but what I bring I think every team needs."

A quick check of the vital statistics seems to back up that assessment. Considering he packs 98kg around his 1.87m frame he's likely to be used in a back-up role behind the likes of Guttenbeil, who may call time on his Warriors career at the end of next season, after what would be 11 years at the club.

The Warriors have recruited conservatively because of salary cap constraints, even though they've lost Stacey Jones, Francis Meli, Iafeta Paleaaesina, Monty Betham, Karl Temata and Tevita Latu, with Luck being joined by hooker George Gatis and halfback Grant Rovelli.

Luck made his NRL debut for the Cowboys a day after his 19th birthday in 2001 and enjoyed three seasons at the emerging club, during which he played around 20 first-grade games a season. In the past two years, however, which has also coincided with the rise and rise of the Cowboys, he found himself down the pecking order, playing only a bit-part role in the club's success.

"It was great to be a part of the club even though I wasn't playing and it's something I will always remember," Luck said. "But I wasn't really enjoying my footy any more and playing reserve grade was not something I wanted to do. I thought that if I can't play first grade then I don't want to play, so it was a whole new start that drew me here."

After a month with his new outfit, where he brings the number of Queenslanders at the club to eight, Luck has been something of a hit with his team-mates because of his singing ability. He is, it seems, the quintessential country boy.

Having grown up in the tiny farming town of Gatton, about 100km west of Brisbane, where potatoes and onions are more plentiful than people, it was probably inevitable he would be lured by the delights of country music.

When all of the newcomers were forced to sing a tune, Luck regaled them with a little ditty that one staff member said stopped everyone in their tracks.

Fortunately for Luck, he used to live with a hip-hop producer in Townsville, meaning he should be able to cope with the tunes that normally blast out of the Warriors dressing room on game-day.

"It's not my choice of music," Luck explained politely about coping with a large dose of hip-hop. However, it's unlikely he'd be too perturbed if he does have to endure it because it would mean he was around the action come game day.

After two seasons on the fringes with the Cowboys, it's all about fresh starts - even musically.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY