Coolwells Made Inglis Feel at Home
Steve Ricketts
MEET the family who helped make Greg Inglis feel like a Queenslander. Adrian Coolwell, his wife Mary and sons Jake and Zac are the Australian winger's second family.
The Coolwells took Inglis in as a 16-year-old after he was signed by the Melbourne Storm from Macksville on the NSW North Coast in 2003.
They will be in the crowd alongside Inglis's parents and siblings at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night for the Great Britain Tri-Nations clash.
Adrian, a former first grade league player with Wests and cricketer with Valleys, was a regular at Wizard Cup matches involving Storm feeder club Norths.
He was approached by Norths official John Ribot and coach Gary Greinke to take Inglis in as a boarder.
"They felt Greg would be a lot more comfortable living with an Aboriginal family," Adrian said yesterday.
"We were living at Wavell Heights at the time and Greg loved to play football on the footpath with our boys and the neighbourhood kids.
"He's the same bloke today and he hasn't forgotten those kids.
"I remember watching him play for Norths Colts for the first time and he scored two tries.
"I said to Gary (Greinke) it won't be long before he's in the Wizard Cup. When he got his
chance he scored two tries in the centres against Wynnum and then four against Easts the next time he played.
"I said to Gary, I don't think it will be long before he is playing with the big boys in the NRL."
Inglis made his debut against Parramatta in round 6, 2005 and that season played a mixture of NRL and Queensland Cup winning The Courier Mail best and fairest award for his efforts at Norths.
This year he made his Queensland State of Origin debut and played in Melbourne's 15-8 grand final loss to Brisbane winning selection in the Australian side.
Controversy still rages in Sydney about his eligibility for Queensland given that he was brought up in NSW.
The ARL gave Inglis the green light to play for Queensland because it ruled his first senior football was at Wavell High.
Coolwell says Inglis always wanted to play for Queensland.
"He grew up supporting Queensland because Arthur Beetson, our first Origin captain and an Aboriginal, was one of his heroes," Coolwell said.
The Coolwells now live at Milton, literally a punt kick away from Suncorp Stadium, and when the Inglis family travels from Macksville for the big matches they park their cars in the yard.
"We usually have a cup of tea before going to the game and another one waiting for the traffic to thin out," Coolwell said.
