HIS career is only 15 NRL games old but young gun Victor Radley is already putting together an impressive dossier of bone-rattling tackles.
The 20-year old has revealed he spent any spare moment as a teenager watching some of rugby league biggest hits on YouTube.
But there was one player in particular that had Radley’s complete attention — Steve Matai.
The Manly centre build a reputation for his ability to cut opposition players in half and Radley couldn’t get enough of it.
“I loved watching Steve Matai videos. He used to smash blokes. He was so good to watch,” he said.
“I remember at school, we’d have our laptops and we’d all just sit around and google ‘big hits’.”
Radley didn’t always hit the ‘sweet spot’ with his tackles.
He admits he had a tendency of leading with his head but that it actually caused him more damage than what it did the other player.
He even remembers how as a child some of the parents of the children on the opposing team would ask his coach to tell Radley to not tackle so hard.
“I remember I had a tackling style where I used to lead with my head a bit and so at that young age some parents weren’t too impressed with it,” Radley said.
“Not knocking other kids out, I was knocking myself out.
Radley says his side’s forward pack face one of their biggest challenges this season when they take on ladder-leaders Penrith on Friday night.
As expected, the excitable 20-year old is relishing the chance to take on a big and physical Panthers pack.
