He may only be new to the club and finding his feet, but for Adam Blair, the ambition to become a leader at the Wests Tigers is there, with 4 players that motivate him, through the work that they do.

It is a list of four forwards: Paul Gallen, Petero Civoniceva, Luke Lewis and Gareth Ellis, that has Blair inspired to work hard, knuckle down, and do the job for the Tigers that he is required to.

”As leaders, those are the sort of guys I reckon a lot of players would look up to, because you know they are going to go out there and get their job done to a high level, week after week,” Blair said yesterday.

”Paul Gallen leads from the front – always – and Petero has a massive influence on players with what he does on the field. Other players look up to him and try to be like him. Luke Bailey does so much hard work and Gareth Ellis just keeps going and always gives 100 per cent.”

The players that motivate Blair have played a large number of Origins and Internationals between them – not to mention the fact that they act as role models towards the younger players, as well as shouldering the burden of guiding them through the ranks – something that Blair himself wants to do.

”I remember when I was a kid coming through, I really wanted someone to look up to and help me out,” he said. ”If I can do something to lead the young blokes in the right direction, then that will be a big thing with me.

”I’m a pretty quiet bloke and I try to lead by my actions more than anything else. When I’m on the field I try to do something that helps give the team a lift. There are some terrific young forwards coming through at the Tigers and I’m really looking forward to playing with them.”

For Tigers coach Tim Sheens, he anticipates that it will not be long before Blair does become a leader at the club, and a voice that is heard.

”We don’t name an official leadership group,” he said. ”But there are senior players whom I discuss things with whenever it is necessary. Now that Adam is here, if I needed to talk to players he would be included among those. He’s the vice-captain of his country, he’s a leader.”

He may not have been at the club very long, but even Tigers captain Robbie Farah has seen the leadership qualities that Blair possesses, and believes that the potential is there to become an even better player.

”I’ve heard him say one of the reasons he came here was because of the style we play,” he said. ”I think maybe down at Melbourne he didn’t get a chance to showcase his talents in attack. Hopefully, we can give him the licence to really damage teams on the edges with the lines he runs, the offloads and footwork.

”You don’t want to go backwards as a footy player. The fact he is going to have Benji [Marshall] there, and that combination with Benji on the edge, will definitely be an advantage to him and us.

”I think he has always had those talents, but maybe we haven’t seen them as well as he would have liked.”

By ricky

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