Al Baxter - Staring down Ewen McKenzie

This week Wallaby tight head Alan Baxter reaches 50 tests, a very rare milestone for Australian Props. After running on against Canada he will join his long time mentor and NSW head coach Ewen McKenzie as one of only two players to ever play over 50 games as a prop for Australia.
Baxter is best known to his team mates as the bloke who knows “stuff” and stuff about stuff you didn’t know existed. There are so many stories of Al being able to decipher riddles or give fully detailed accounts of random people throughout history. My personal favorite occurred at a beer tasting event put on for the wallabies in 2005 where he successfully identified Thiamin as a mineral that had been added to most beers to preserve the life of drinkers who failed to eat. There is more to this story (write in if you want to hear the full version, if not take my word it was astonishing)
Apart from having an abnormally large brain he is possibly one of the nicest guys many of the players have ever met. Sure he has a fuse shorter than Adam Freier’s torso and a temper that usually erupts into some form of blood bath. Take me for example, just this morning I shed half a gallon of claret after an Al Baxter head-butt. But that is his on field personality (and occasionally home life personality), but that’s it, the rest of the time he takes his place as one of the most well liked men in world rugby. For all you out there that say he is a maniac and should be in shackles until game day, and that people only say they like him in self-preservation, all I can say is that such comments have little merit.

A true iron man in the modern game Al has raced to 50 test caps faster than most (possibly the fastest time wise). His debut in 2003 was during a very uncertain time for Australian rugby. The great Argentinean born tight-head Patricio Noreiga has succumbed to what can only be described as “bad back”, a likely outcome after 15 years of professional scrumaging. Compounding that was Ben Darwin’s career ending neck injury in the 2003 world cup semi final. This placed enormous strain on the Australian Scrum. So in his debut season for the Wallabies Al found himself shouldering the responsibility of the Australian scrum in the World Cup Final, against the most dominate pack in the world rugby. Big Al passed the test and went on to represent Australia in nearly every test since.

It is right to marvel at this extraordinary achievement and I think it is appropriate to look at what it is that got Al to where he is. I believe a large portion of Al’s ability to stay at the top lies with Al’s capacity to excel physically. He is the type of bloke that makes any strength and conditioner look good.
Where most props have to work hard to maintain their lean physique (I use the word lean very loosely) Al never had to worry about such matters. Being very gifted physically he has been able to adapt to changes in scrumaging, international rule changes, the rigors of the extensive travel associated with pro rugby and also the changing styles of coaches over the years. His ability to do this earnt him the nick name “Super Al” (which he quite likes and sometimes introduced himself as). This name soon wore off as his darker side became apparent and some aspects of his personality failed to match up with the do gooding Superman. Regardless he thoroughly deserved the title, if only on a physical basis. He is the only prop know to man who consistently gets over 12.5 in the beep test while still staying as strong as an ox. His chiseled physique has irritated more than one or two fellow props, fearing Al was raising the bar unattainably high. These concerns weren’t anything a straight right couldn’t sort out in a hurry.

One can only conclude that the big fella knows how to work and I can only assume that the big engine that is Alan Baxter has plenty more tests to come. Next cap Al will become the most capped test prop in Australian Rugby history a fitting accolade for one of games true servants.

Rocky Elsom
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