SOMETIMES you meet a young player and you just know they’re gonna make it in the game.

It’s their attitude. A quiet confidence but also a fear that drives them. A fear of not making it, not reaching their potential.

That’s Luke Keary.

I first met Luke several years ago. Michael Maguire, who I had coached with at Melbourne, brought over a small group of playmakers to my home after he took over Souths.

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John Sutton was the most experienced playmaker and was naturally the most self-assured.

Nathan Peats was brash, funny and made comments that he didn’t travel as far as the Northern Beaches for a holiday, let alone a training session.

media_camera Luke Keary of Souths and Jamie Lyon of Manly get into a fight.

Adam Reynolds was about to crack it in the NRL and looked very much the first grader.

Dylan Walker, as the rugby league world well knows now, was a bundle of speed, power and energy.

And then there was Keary. The youngest, the smallest, the quietest …. never said a word.

Michael Maguire, after the session, summed him up by saying “there’s something special about Luke.”

Something special is right.

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While Sutton had the poise, Peats confidence and Dylan athleticism, with Keary it was harder to work out exactly what it was which made him impressive.

Over the next 12 months, Keary and Reynolds continued to come over for some sessions and I got to know them a lot more.

I learnt he was an Ipswich boy. And that told me he was tough, and a good bloke.

I’ve never met a footballer from Ipswich which wasn’t both. Alfie Langer and the Walters brothers being the shining examples.

But he was talented as well. He had incredible speed off the mark and was so quick over the short distance that his ball runners simply couldn’t keep pace. Since then it’s clear he’s learnt a more even tempo in his ball playing.

media_camera Luke Keary celebrates winning a sprint drill.

A clue to why the Reynolds/Keary combination is presently gelling so well, is how famously they got on together.

It surprised me, given the fact Sutton was entrenched in the 6 jersey, it appeared as though Reynolds and Keary would be competing for the 7.

In these instances, competitive spirit usually wins out over comradarie.

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For instance, in his early years in grade football, my brother Andrew would openly admit he had nothing but utter disdain for all the other number 7s at the Knights, whether they were ahead of him in the pecking order or a youngster behind him coming through the grades.

Still after all these years, when the Knights junior Brett Kimmorley and Joey come together, it’s a picture of awkwardness.

Seeing the two Novocastrian number 7s even to this day trying to make conversation together is one of the true delights of my life.

No such dramas for Adam and Luke, the two Bunnies playmakers get on like a house on fire.

In 2013, when Keary got his chance toward the back end of the season, his partnership with Reynolds showed none of the fluency and understanding it shows presently.

Reynolds missed the stability and familiarity of Sutton in the 6, and with Sutton in the backrow, it was like there was one ball player too many in the team. Souths started to play too sideways and lost much of their direct power game which got them into title contention.

media_camera Luke Keary down injured after a tackle.

At the end of the 2013 season, Keary knuckled down, learnt from his taste of NRL and was set for a career launching 2014.

He went to the trouble of travelling to Arizona to train at altitude, which he paid for himself and the word out of the Burrow was that he was ready to explode onto the scene.

All that changed when he flung an arm out in defence during the Auckland Nines. He felt a small pinch and looked down to see the sight of his pectoral muscle displaced in the middle of his chest, having torn off the bone.

The early prognosis was his season was over …. plenty of tears that night.

I called him a few days later and he was surprisingly upbeat, he’d just been given the news by the Rabbitohs doctor that with a little bit of luck, he might be back in Round 20.

I suggested that when he got the all-clear to start to use the muscle, he should come over to my place, do a session and have a chat.

media_camera Luke Keary of the Rabbitohs celebrates scoring a try.

A couple of months later he arrived at my house and it was on this day I realised what it was that made Keary special and he had me in no doubts that he was going to be an NRL star.

After sitting and having a chat, we headed down to the park with a couple of footballs and some marker cones.

Keary was talking about Souths and about how the team was playing, chatting about little plays they had been working on, when suddenly he stopped in his tracks, looked straight at me with a look of desperation and determination and said “Matty I can’t tell you how much I just want to make it in the NRL.”

Desire …. that’s what makes Luke Keary special.

I passed this story onto my brother Andrew. “That’s the best statement I’ve ever heard from a young player” was his reply.

Keary’s return to football has sparked Souths Sydney and given their attack more thrust and variation.

He has pushed Reynolds out of his comfort zone and Reynolds is now running the football, rather than be left behind by his halves partner.

Luke Keary deserves his success.