IT was game two of the 2015 State of Origin series in Melbourne at the MCG and I’d had a gutful of David Klemmer, the big, baldheaded New South Wales forward.

I might not have liked what I’d just heard spew out of his mouth, but I wasn’t surprised by it.

My anger towards him hadn’t just started on the field that night, it had been brewing for a couple of years.

During the 2014 pre-season, Klemmer’s NRL club, Canterbury, played Melbourne, captained by my good mate Cameron Smith, in a trial match at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Klem was only 20 at the time, had only played a handful of first-grade games, and was trying to make a name for himself, as most young blokes do.

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When a scuffle broke out during the game, Klem grabbed Smithy and screamed at him, ‘You’re too old. Give it away.’ Smithy looked at him and — as he told me later — his initial thought was, Who the heck are you? because Klem was coming into only his second season of first grade.

A young David Klemmer has words with Corey Parker. Source: News Corp Australia

The funny thing was, Klem made the Australian squad for the end-of-season Four Nations tournament later that year and I think he’d forgotten all about it. But Smithy, now his team captain, hadn’t forgotten and neither had I.

In that Origin game in Melbourne, tension built when fullback Billy Slater resented a facial from James Tamou and threw the ball at his head. Then we almost had fireworks in the second half.

Klem had only just come onto the field and he was packing into the front row. He had this dirty big armguard on and he grabbed me in a headlock and worked me over with it.

When the scrum broke up, I half blew up at him about it. Then, later in the game, he hit JT in a late tackle after he’d passed the ball and that was when I snapped.

‘Show some respect,’ I told him, prompting his expletive- laden reply.

Why did I say that? Why is respect so important to me? Maybe it’s because I had it drummed into me by my mum and dad when I was growing up. Or maybe it’s because I learned it the hard way when I was a teenager playing for Broncos Colts in the Toowoomba competition and then the Clydesdales in the Queensland Cup.

Or maybe it’s because I’d had to show it myself to Brisbane Broncos players, even though I wasn’t a big fan of the culture back in the beginning. Or maybe it’s because I’d learned to respect the Maroons jumper after spending five long years in representative exile. Or maybe it’s because I thought of playing for the Kiwis when Australia wouldn’t pick me.

Whatever the reason was, I couldn’t cop David Klemmer and what he was doing any longer. Some people say maybe I saw a bit of myself in him that night in the sense that I was once a baldheaded, brash young front-rower who didn’t take a backward step from anybody.

Well, that might be true but there was one big difference between us which was that I never would have sworn at him the way he did to me that night.

I don’t mind if players want to carry on like pork chops, and Klem was pumped up that night and certainly had a good game for them, but I couldn’t wear him carrying on like he had to the Australian captain, Smithy, and the best player in the game, JT.

Corey Parker gives David Klemmer a head massage. Source: Getty Images

Later in the book, Klemmer gives his side of the story...

“State of Origin is a combative arena, it’s the pinnacle of our sport. Queensland have had a

lot of success and part of my job as a New South Wales player, especially as a front-rower, is to take on that challenge head-on.

Corey has been one of the Maroons’ best and most consistent players for a long time, he puts his stamp on each game and doesn’t take a backward step.

A lot has been made about Corey and me going head- to-head, but I’ve always had a huge amount of respect for him. You have to. He’s played over 300 NRL games for the same club, won State of Origin series and represented Australia.

How many players have done that? I made a point after his last Origin game of congratulating him, because I felt he deserved it.

I’m still a young player in the game, but if I could achieve what he has by the time I retire I’d be a happy man.”

This is an extract from Iron Man by Corey Parker, RRP $34.99, Macmillan Australia, out now!

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