It's all about winning for wheelchair rugby league competitors - Herald Sun

Craig Cannane during his dominant performance for St George in the grand final. Picture: Rohan Kelly

PLEASE, no one call Brad Grove a winner. Don't go telling him how just competing is soooooo special, either.

"No, because that's what always happens down at the pub," the Australian wheelchair leaguie laughs. "People will come up to my mates, look at me in the chair and say 'geez, it's really good of you guys to bring him down here'.

"Same deal when you tell people about playing wheelchair rugby league and they go 'oh, isn't that nice'. No, it's not nice.

"You watch two blokes collide going flat out, watch blokes get kicked from their chair or brawl like we did against France at the last World Cup. You try telling them it's not all about winning."

This is why today hurts so much. And why Grove, right now watching the NSW Rugby League Wheelchair grand final from the sidelines with his Newcastle team, is as good a representative of this fledgling sport as any action taking place in the middle.

For the past five years Grove has been fighting to overcome the kind of injuries that strike a man when a 4WD rolls down an embankment and right over the top of you.

There was three months in hospital. Another four in rehab. At one point he spent six weeks laid flat on his back as, for reasons no one could quite explain, brain fluid disappeared.

But who here hasn't battled?

Take Penrith Panthers amputee Jason Voncina, who despite losing a leg to cancer not only represents Australian in wheelchair league but also plays in the national gridiron league against able-bodied rivals.

Or Craig Cannane, the St George player who had a motorbike accident at 18 and has spent the ensuing two decades becoming one of the country's most recognised wheelchair athletes.

In the grand final, Cannane's St George beat Canberra 40-4, with the father of two also taking out the Best And Fairest medal.

"Which is great because this weekend is all about winning," he grins. "I represent Australia in basketball, in rugby league ... so yeah, I consider myself an elite athlete.

"I train at the NSW Institute of Sport with Olympians. Travel to international competitions. For me, the 'just competing' thing was over years ago."