Wendell Sailor’s 2006 return to a seething Suncorp Stadium was a marketer’s dream.
After wildly successful stints with the Brisbane Broncos, Queensland Maroons and Reds, the box office winger did the unthinkable.
And after signing with the arch-nemesis NSW Waratahs, the schedule makers had a gimme putt.
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“Round one, Tahs-Reds at Suncorp,” former Waratahs star Morgan Turinui told Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts in the wake of another spicy Super Rugby derby.
“The whole week, (NSW coach) Ewen McKenzie, he’s a cerebral assassin in terms of preparing his teams.
“It was trying to aggravate the Reds as much as possible, we were doing radio interviews talking about the banjos being played, the hillbillies up there, we were in the hotel saying there were goats in our hallways, all this ridiculous stuff. The Reds’ slogan that week to sell tickets was ‘come and boo Dell.’
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“It was interesting to see a Queensland favourite, a passionate son come and play for us. Both teams just absolutely bashed the crap out of each other.”
Turinui said Sailor spent the week attempting, unsuccessfully, to place himself on a media ban.
“That’s like John Candy going on a hunger strike,” co-host Andrew Mehrtens quipped before Turinui continued the Sailor at Suncorp journey.
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“In the middle of the game we’re trying to call a play and Dell’s turning around getting into the crowd – ‘yeah, come on, boo me!’ And after the game we worked out Dell got about 100 tickets for people that were Queenslanders to come and boo him.
“He recruited people to come and boo him, it was good for his profile,” Turinui said.
“He was giving tickets out everywhere, it wasn’t just family and friends. Mate, we were playing checkers, he was playing chess, Big Dell.
“The after match function he had the Reds organise him a private box for family and friends, mate he was playing both sides.
“Don’t feel sorry for old Dell getting booed in 2006.”
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