Bell keen to continue his test career

Press, 2 November 1984, Page 34

Bell keen to continue his test career

There need be no fears that New Zealand will lose the services of the outstanding young centre and wing, Dean Bell, when he leaves Auckland later this summer to begin a professional rugby league career with Eastern Suburbs in Sydney. “Test football always gives me the biggest buzz, and I would very much like to continue playing for New Zealand,” said Bell. The series against Australia, incorporating one match in Brisbane and two in Auckland next June and July, will be Bell’s next international assignment, and he is keen to be with the Kiwis when they tour Britain and France late next year. “The tour will be a once-in-a-lifetime highlight. One of the benefits of playing in Australia is that I will be available for the whole trip. Had I gone back to Leeds I could have been released only for the tests,” he said. Eastern Suburbs was one of three clubs bidding for Bell, and its persistence paid off when Leeds and a Sydney rival, CanterburyBankstown, baulked at the ?Aust3s,ooo transfer fee requested by the New Zealand Rugby League.

indeed, Eastern Suburbs and its coach, Arthur Beetson, were not operating on a restrictive budget. The club outlaid a similar amount for the Kiwi loose forward, Hugh McGahan, and has also signed a third New Zealand international, Olsen Filipaina, and several highly-regarded players from Sydney and Queensland.

Bell qualified for a full overseas clearance when he

By

JOHN COFFEY

appeared in his sixth test, the third of the home series against Great Britain last July. His attacking brilliance and cover-defensive skills made it inevitable that overseas talent scouts would take notice.

The British had already had a thorough insight into Bell’s abilities. He spent a term with Carlisle in 198283, and stayed after last year’s New Zealand Maoris tour of England to spend the remainder of the northern season at Leeds.

His test debut against Australia at Auckland last year was most satisfactory, Bell comparing favourably in opposition to the experienced Australian wing, Kerry Boustead. The one disappointing feature was the result, a 4-16 loss to the Kiwis. Since then Bell has en-

joyed a sequence of notable achievements. The Kiwis evened that series with a stunning victory at Brisbane, created four world records against Papua New Guinea — when Bell contributed three tries as a centre — and made a cleansweep of the tests against Britain. “That win at Brisbane assisted all of the Kiwis to believe in themselves. When you consider that someone like Dennis Williams was a Kiwi for 10 years without ever beating Australia, then I can have no gripes about how things have gone,” said Bell.

Bell is not concerned that Eastern Suburbs finished second-to-last in the 1984 Sydney premiership and is looking forward to the challenge of assisting the club rebuild and to working with Beetson.

“Beetson was one of the greatest players of the modern era. Graham Lowe (the Kiwi coach) tells me he is a very straight-up type, and that is what I want. Having Hugh (McGahan) going over with me will help, and it will be good for our wives to have someone they know,” said Bell.

While aware that the standard in Sydney will be much higher than that of club football in New Zealand or Britain, Bell believes that his experiences in England assisted him develop a professional approach. Not that rugby league has ever been far from Bell’s lifestyle. He has had the unusual distinction of hav-

ing appeared in tests alongside an uncle (lan Bell was a replacement at Brisbane) and a cousin (Clayton Friend), and another uncle, George Bell, was a New Zealand Maoris representative.

Bell has not been idle during his first Auckland summer for three years. In company with Friend and the Kiwi forward, Owen Wright, he has been carrying out a thorough preseason training programme at the New Zealand Institute of Sport The knowledgable Mr Lowe is just one of many observers who believe that Bell will be a big success when he starts his two-year contract (with a one-year option) at Eastern Suburbs. The British magazine, "Open Rugby,” already rates Bell as the third-best wing in the code — behind the Australians, Eric Grothe and Boustead, and ahead of Britain’s own favourite son, Des Drummond. Bell, in effect, has a combination of the assets of his Australian rivals, being physically stronger than Boustead and quicker off the mark than Grothe. “A lot of people have said that I prefer to play centre rather than wing, but truly it doesn’t bother me. I'm content as long as I’m in a top side,” he said. But it would not surprise if Bell soon holds a world ranking as a centre. He was not able to split the established partnership of James Leuluai and Fred Ah Kuoi against Britain, though his imposing display against the Papua New Guineans last year pointed to where his future probably lies.