Rugby: Kafer trades in market play for rugby

By CHRIS RATTUE

It should have been the moment which launched Rod Kafer's international rugby career. Instead, it gave him another look at the future - the futures market that is.

The gifted back from Canberra had been called in to the Wallaby side by coach Bob Dwyer for a Bledisloe Cup game in 1995, to cover for the injured Matthew Burke.

But an hour into training, Kafer crashed on the notorious, injury-inducing cricket pitch area at North Sydney Oval.

He broke his ankle in three places, and his Wallaby dream was over - Burke subsequently played but an injury to Daniel Herbert meant Kafer would still have been required.

David Campese got a recall, and Kafer re-evaluated his life.

"Until then my whole focus had been rugby," said 28-year-old Kafer, who broke his other ankle the following season.

"But I realised that life can be fickle. I suddenly relaxed about rugby and went and did other things as well."

The big "other thing" was the futures markets, where commodities are sold for an agreed price at a specified delivery date.

Kafer, who had been utilising his sports physiology degree working at the ACT Academy of Sport, threw himself into the futures. He spent up to 10 hours a day studying the markets.

The word was that although Kafer continued to be part of the Brumbies squad, he did not have to play rugby such was the success of his financial ventures. Kafer concedes that he did make a small fortune, but just as quickly asserts that he also lost a fair deal of it. And rugby, he maintains, is not just about money.

Still, at some point in 1998 he decided to give the futures game away and turned all his energies back to rugby.

Last year he re-emerged as a dominating force with rare ball skills in the Super 12. He started every Brumbies match, either at first five-eighths, inside-centre or at fullback.

With Stephen Larkham injured, he became the ninth player in four seasons to be selected at first five-eighths for the Wallabies as they inflicted the heaviest defeat on the All Blacks, at Stadium Australia.

Maybe the most remarkable thing about Kafer's rise to the top is that he has a physique at odds with the sleek, modern-day rugby athlete although he has always caught the eye of national selectors.

He played soccer until he was 11, tried Australian rules for one year, then switched to rugby and went on to play for the Australian schools side in 1989 and then the national under-21s.

His bottom-heavy profile has inspired some of his many nicknames. A Sydney writer described his legs as resembling the Easter Show woodchop stumps. A Brisbane journalist gave him the nickname "tugboat."

It is a measure of Kafer's attitude that rather than being offended by the barbs at his physique, he almost welcomes them.

On winning Wallaby selection last year, he said: "It's no secret I'm a slow, fat bloke."

This week, he said: "I had a real laugh at the tugboat name. You've got to be pretty thick-skinned playing sport at this level - you've got to have a joke in life."

He has plenty to smile about at the moment.

He is one of the main architects of the Brumbies' unique approach to the game.

His ball-playing ability is central to their slick moves which not only retain possession for long periods but can cut the best of defences apart.

He will surely remain part of the Wallaby plans.

Kafer will probably return to trading the markets one day, but for the moment he has no intention of going back to the futures.