A GOAL kicking second rower is a beautiful thing, rare like a unicorn.

Bob Conway left Nudgee College and went to the Broncos to kick goals and play second row and lock for the Broncos. He was part of the Broncos Reserve Grade premiership in 1990 and the Broncos first finals appearance in A Grade.

Nudgee College is rugby’s green grass, why the Broncos?

I always played league and then played rugby at school but I always thought of myself of a league kid.

I played at Redcliffe in 1988 and played one first grade game towards the end of the year but I played in Mark Murray’s Colts side that won the premiership.

I went to a meeting with Wayne Bennett and Paul Morgan at Morgan’s stockbroking firm to discuss me becoming a Bronco at the end of 1988.

I remember Paul went outside the room to get a phone call and I was talking to Bennett about what I was going to do outside of football. I said I would like to become involved with broking and finance and Wayne said let’s not leave here until you have a job then.

I started at the firm two weeks later and now I am still at Morgan’s at Redcliffe so it all worked out very well.

I was recently at a Dolphins event and reminded Wayne Bennett about that conversation.

Who was your Brisbane league team?

Dad was a mad Norths fan so I spent a huge amount of time at Bishop Park and was at the 1980 grand final Norths won over Souths. Then I played for Redcliffe and a few games for Souths too when the Broncos dropped me back to Souths.

Now I have come around back to the Dolphins.

In the 1990 Reserve Grade grand final, you were on the bench when the Broncos beat the Raiders. Was that a highlight?

I played mostly first grade in 1990 but qualified for the Reserve Grade finals. I got on with a minute to go in normal time and then was on for the extra time.

It was such a thrill to be part of the Broncos first grand final and premiership.

We won a Colts premiership on the Sunshine Coast with Renouf and Plath but this was the real deal playing at the SFS on Grand Final Day against the Raiders.

I still have the Raiders jumper at home I swapped.

In 1990, the Broncos first finals series, you were on the bench for the three games – against Penrith, Manly and Canberra. How did you find the finals?

Everything was the first for the Broncos, so it was all really new and exciting. Losing to Penrith 26-16 was disappointing but the Broncos first finals win against Manly 12-4 was great and then back down the other end again the next week against a red-hot Raiders losing 32-4.

You sat on the bench against Canberra in 1990 in the preliminary final with Wally Lewis, who was playing his last game for the Broncos. What did you talk about?

Yeah Wally’s last game for the Broncos before going to the Coast, he wore 36 and I wore 28. That’s not going to happen too many times in your career. I went on before Wally too.

How hard did you work on your goal kicking?

I really enjoyed goal kicking and Wayne was always of the view that if you work hard on it then you can do it. I played fly half in rugby so that’s where the kicking started and I just kept doing it.

You played with so many great Broncos - Alf, Kevvie, Jackson, Wally, Miles, Dowling. Do you have a favourite or one you learnt a lot from?

Gene Miles. I just loved watching him play and suddenly I am 20 and playing with him for the Broncos. I remember at Lang Park in one of my first games we are packing a scrum and I am taking my time getting there and Miles is yelling at me to hurry. I am thinking Gene Miles is yelling at me how good is this.

He was an incredibly skilful player and was picked for Australia in two positions that gets overlooked but he went from the best centre to the best second row.

You retired young after 45 NRL games. Why so young?

I was only 21 but I suffered a lot of bad head knocks and the most innocuous knock was causing me concussion. I was behind at training and Wayne said I think we need to talk.

I was cleared by the medical team but I knew it was the end. That’s probably my biggest regret that I didn’t get to become a 27-year-old football and a mature footballer.