Growing up in a rugby league family, Shaun Timmins first laced up his footy boot at the tender age of four as a Kiama junior.
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“I played for a few years with Gerringong for the under 14s, 15s and 16s before I ventured into my representative career,” Timmins said.
“I still have a lot of mates I played with – we had a heap of fun back in the day.”
Timmins made his NRL first grade debut for the Illawarra Steelers in round 18 of the 1994 season against the Cronulla Sharks.
“I played 21s that day and I backed up for reserve grade and sat on the bench of first grade and ended up getting on for 20 minutes, which I’d been doing for a few weeks,” he said.
“Obviously it was exciting, I had friends and family watching, to finally get a crack and go on as a 17-year-old was a pretty good experience.
“Once I got a taste for first grade, I didn’t want to go back and play anything else.”
Timmins played in the NRL for 12 years, which included 86 games for the Steelers.
In his first season playing for the combined St George Illawarra Dragons, the team made it to the grand final.
He was selected for Australia nine times between 1999-2004.
“To finally make my debut in the green and gold was a pretty special moment,” he said.
“We had a pretty strong side, with guys like Gordon Tallis, Darren Lockyer, Danny Buderus and Trent Barrett.
“I was lucky enough to play nine games for nine wins.”
Timmins reflected on his time in the State of Origin team.
“I loved it, the buildup to Origin was outstanding – the camps were good, I made some great mates and got to play with some of the world’s best players,” he said.
“Origin was probably one of the biggest highlights of my career, getting to play in that arena and just to be around those types of players, I had Phil Gould as coach who was outstanding.
“I have some good memories of Origin, as we had some good series wins too.”
Timmins said the hype around State of Origin was similar to that of a grand final.
“They’re both huge, I would say they’re similar, obviously it’s a huge build up of expectations,” he said.
“Origin has become bigger and bigger each year.
“My first game, I don’t really think I had a good game, it went by me and I was a little bit overawed.
“The more I got in there, the more comfortable I became.
“It was the quickest most physical game I played.”
Unfortunately, Timmins missed the entire 2001 season through injury.
“That was pretty hard, there was a chance I would never play again,” he said.
“I had to battle that and try and get over my knee injury, which was quite severe, so I sat out for 18 months.
“But I refused to give in and kept training and working hard and ended up back on the field and got an extra four or five years out of my knee. I did struggle a little bit but it made me mentally tougher.”
The following year, Timmins made a return to representative football, playing once again for the Blues and the Kangaroos.
“I had a lot of motivation sitting out for a year and a half, I got Dragons Player of the Year,” he said.
“That was probably one of the most satisfying years personally. After being out for so long you realise how lucky you have it. That was special.”
In 2003, Timmins reached another career high, when he played for NSW Country.
“I would have loved to play for Country more, but back then if you were playing Origin or for Australia, they wouldn’t pick you,” he said,
“I loved the Country jersey and only got to play in it once. It’s sad it’s not there anymore.
“I would love to see it still on the calendar. It’s great for young players to get their first crack at a rep jersey.”
One of Timmins’ most memorable Origin moments came in 2004, when he kicked a field goal from 35 metres out in extra time to win the match.
“That was my last series that year, when I kicked the field goal, so to go out with a win in that series was pretty special,” he said.
“It was also Brad Fittler’s retirement game too.
“The other highlight was probably playing outside Andrew Johns in the halves.
“I had a ball in Origin.”
In 2006, Timmins’ playing career came to an end after 210 first grade games.
“My knees were stuffed, I was struggling, both knees were shot,” he said.
“I had gone through a heap of surgeries on them, it was bone on bone.
“I knew it was time. I was struggling to get through training. I knew my time was up, it was sad, but I knew I couldn’t keep going.”
Timmins counted the friendships he made along the way, as an important aspect of his career.
“I played at the Dragons for my whole career and I’m still involved with the club, so to be part of that and be able to meet some special players is probably one of the highlights from it all.”