ONCE in a life time you meet a person like George Gatis, a never ending smile, a look of confusion and a habit of always saying sorry.
We are lucky enough to be teammates with this shy boy from the north of Australia, a little city called Townsville.
Raised in this strong rugby league area, George found himself in an unfamiliar position of playing the sport.
Being of Greek heritage, one would think George would be more suited to smashing plates, but instead he firmly established himself as a rugby league player.
He played with North Queensland Cowboys for three seasons until a bad knee injury forced a premature retirement and all looked doomed for George – until he found his second passion, food.
George is the proud owner of a seafood restaurant and is a sublime cook.
But a chance phone call from an old teammate convinced him to cross the Tasman Sea and play two seasons with the New Zealand Warriors before he ended up on the cold and muddy pitches of Huddersfield.
And here, Andy and myself go head-to-head with the little Greek maestro.
You’re from Townsville, one of the hottest places in Oz, how are you coping with the cold here?
Coping alright, but I did a couple of years in New Zealand so I’ve had time to acclimatise to the cold over there as well.
You spent a few years out of the game before joining the NZ Warriors in 2006. How did this come about and what did you do in that time?
I was out of contract in 2003 and I had a horror season with injuries with a broken arm and did my knee, so the Cowboys chose not to re-sign me. I spent the next two years expanding the family business and concentrated on establishing a future in another direction.
You’ve got a reputation for being an excellent cook, what is your speciality?
I don’t really specialise in doing anything in particular, I just enjoy doing it and experimenting with different recipes.
Did you have any sporting idols when you were growing up?
Being from Queensland growing up Wally Lewis was the king and also Gene Miles, Mal Meninga they were all favourites.
It’s your birthday soon (March 25), what are your plans for celebrating it? What would be the ideal birthday present?
Well for my 28th I’m thinking having a night out with the boys, hopefully to celebrate on the back of a home win over St Helens. My ideal birthday present would be a couple of tries against Saints.
Now George, we’ve had a letter in asking about your relationship status from an unknown sender. Well, to let all the ladies in Huddersfield know, George is one of the single boys in the team.
We think we should give the ladies of the town a chance to get to know the real George Gatis and how he thinks. George what do you prefer...
Men or Women? Women.
Blondes or Brunettes? Brunette.
Petite or leggy? Petite.
A night in or night out? Night in.
Fish and chips or Posh meal? Posh meal.
Bath or shower? Shower.
Movies or DVD? Movies.
Beer or wine? Beer.
Beach or pool? Beach.
Cotton or Silk? Cotton.
Boxers or briefs? Briefs.
KFC or McDonalds? KFC.
Well, there it is ladies, we hope we’ve put a few questions to rest with this in-depth look at George Gatis.
See you all for the Wigan game tomorrow.
