NRL: Golden boy

Glenfield boy Kevin Locke always dreamed of being like Stacey Jones. Warriors fans will be hoping he fulfils that dream. Photo / Dean Purcell

At the start of the NRL season, an earnest young man approached Stacey Jones at a training session and asked for his autograph. That young man will never forget the reaction of his boyhood hero.

"He called me a kid," recalls Kevin Locke, the 20-year-old Northcote prodigy whose freakish talent drew comparisons with the great halfback long before he became his teammate.

People still refer to Locke as a kid, although these days the description is usually prefaced by the word "wonder".

Locke's stunning two-try debut against Wests Tigers and, more recently, his scintillating 90-metre break against the Broncos, have certainly captured the wider public's attention.

With a Warriors season that started with such great hope rapidly going down the gurgler, it's no surprise the emergence of such a promising local talent has been seized upon.

Locke's emergence may have seemed like a bolt from the blue, but the reality is quite different. A cult hero in Northcote since his childhood, he has long been touted for the very top.

Two years ago former Kiwis coach Graham Lowe wrote a column for the Herald demanding Locke's instant promotion to first grade.

Lowe had just seen Locke in action for the first time, playing for feeder club the Auckland Lions. One look was all it took.

"He was just a standout, an absolute standout," says Lowe, who is frustrated with the Warriors' tardiness.

"It's just a shame that it has taken this long. I know that sounds impatient but ... stars like Kevin Locke, it's like walking along the beach kicking over rocks looking for diamonds.

"To me he is their best player by far already. There is daylight between him and the second best."

Even as a junior, locals used to flock to his games just to see him in action.

"What he does now on the league field, he used to do when he was about 5 or 6," says Lewis Stokes, the lifelong friend who Locke describes as like an older brother.

"Everyone used to watch his games. He was the little kid running to the park with his headgear on, with a rugby ball and his boots under his arm."

Locke credits Stokes with helping to make sure he didn't go off the rails and waste his talent, as others did.

"I've looked out for him since he was young because I knew what he had and where he was going," Stokes said. "Where he was brought up, it wasn't the best conditions. It wasn't a rich area.

"But he's always been the good one, it was us who were the naughty ones. We tried to keep him out of trouble because we knew from the start that he was destined to be a good player."

Dayne Norton, now a trainer at the Warriors, was playing for the Northcote premiers when a pint-sized 15-year-old Locke was thrown into the senior club ranks. "He was pretty small all right and he was playing against grown men," Norton recalls.

"But he was doing the things he does now back then, scoring long-range tries. We knew that he was going to be a superstar. He did some freakish things out on the field."

With another of his childhood heroes, Gene Ngamu, also in that Northcote team, Locke could have been forgiven for being overawed by the situation. Instead, he thrived.

"He was a pretty laidback sort of kid," Norton says. "He was pretty confident in his ability so nothing daunted him too much."

It was Norton who convinced Junior Warriors coach Tony Iro to go and see Locke in action.

"We'd heard whispers about Kevin anyway," Iro says. "Dayne said 'just come down and watch him'. He was like a cult favourite at the club. Every time he touched the ball the crowd would go up. I probably wasn't expecting too much but the first time I watched him he scored two 100 metres tries. We were sold."

Locke was signed to a scholarship contract but, at a skinny 67kg, there were plenty who thought his lack of size would prevent him from making the grade. Locke, though, has the one attribute that counter-acts a lack of size - blinding pace.

"Basically every game I watched I think he got [a 100m try]. That alone was enough for us to get him down to club. He had the pace to always get himself out of trouble. If you have got that sort of pace it doesn't matter what size you are."

Still, there are no guarantees. Iro has seen his share of promising players flame out. "We see loads of kids at 16 with tons of ability and they either can't improve as players, find it too difficult or get sidetracked. Very few of them do everything right. ... But the good ones - and Nobby [Locke] is one of the good ones - once they know that they have got a future they tend to knuckle down. And he has worked really hard and he has got his rewards."

With Locke looking so assured in the top grade, Iro isn't expecting to have him back in the juniors ranks any time soon - if ever.

"Mentally he looks like he's handling it really well. That is the biggest thing with a lot of the boys, there are a lot of mental pressures that go with playing first grade.

"It is a big step up from the 20s. He is probably a bit lucky that he is not involved in the heavy contact like some of the other young boys - like Russell Packer and Ben Matulino."

The biggest concern about Locke now seems to be the prospect of success going to his head. Iro, though, believes he has the right temperament.

Even if it was just in his own neighbourhood, Locke is, after all, accustomed to being a star. It is only his horizons that have changed.

"The fact that when you are 16 you have your whole club and a whole grandstand jumping up and down every time you touch the ball probably prepares you a little bit for [fame].

"And a lot of boys realise that it can be a pretty quick drop out of favour. It is a brutal comp. If you are not consistent there is always someone to take your spot."

Last year's briefly shining star, Malo Solomona, who scored a hat-trick against the Bulldogs in just his third first-grade game but has hardly been sighted since, is a classic case.

"The measure for [Locke] will be once he's played 20 or 30 games, has he still got the same hunger, the same passion and the same work ethic? That is always the danger for kids who step up to that level."

The other question mark over Locke is what position he should play. A regular halfback as a junior, he has aspirations of returning to the position. But opinion on whether he has the game to cope in the crucial playmaker role at NRL level is divided. While Lowe believes Locke has "halfback or five-eight written all over him", Iro isn't convinced.

"Halfback is a very tough position," Iro says. "Every single club in the NRL is looking for the next Jonathan Thurston or Andrew Johns. You have to have a huge skill set and a lot of ability. I don't think you can teach that position. Kevin is a natural footballer and, who knows, one day he might be able to convert to that position. But he's a good winger now and he's going to be a better fullback in the future."

One thing is certain, we have not yet seen the best of Kevin Locke.

The only surprising thing about his 90m break against the Broncos is that it didn't finish with a try. A nasty bout of flu and the fact he is not yet back to full pace after a mid-season operation to remove cartilage from his knee probably account for that.

He also believes his legs are struggling to carry the extra 15kg he has put on since joining the Warriors full time.

"I went into that game sick and I am still getting over the flu now," he says. "I have to admit I struggled. I still get nervous and I'm still trying to get comfortable with the NRL."

The Brisbane match also provided another important lesson. When Locke spilled the ball on an early tackle at a crucial stage of the second half, the Broncos crossed for the decisive try.

"Coughing up that ball and it ending up a try at the end of the set ... I wanted to make up for it but I never got the opportunity. But it is NRL now, you've got to expect that kind of stuff."

As for that Stacey Jones autograph, Locke still has it, still treasures it.

"Playing with him is the biggest buzz, it's a like a dream come true. I always wanted to be like him."

Warriors fans will be certainly be hoping he fulfils that dream.