Turpin Time: Young hooker rallies from injury low

Jake Turpin reckons he didn't have to buy a beer last time he wandered into the Sundowner Saloon in Haigslea.

Fair enough when he'd been told he might never return to rugby league after breaking "pretty much every single bone" in his ankle.

Turpin has been Brisbane's silver lining from the sticks since Andrew McCullough went down with a knee injury at training, the knockabout back-up hooker making the most of his long-awaited crack at the NRL's big time.

Hailing from Haigslea – "one pub, a few hundred people at most and that's about it" – and one of Queensland harness racing's most prosperous families, Turpin's has been a well-received rise an hour west of Brisbane.

It’s also been a while coming.

Turpin was among the last players unearthed by former Storm recruitment manager Darren Bell – whose signings include Jesse Bromwich and Tohu Harris – before the popular scout suffered a massive heart attack in 2011.

Now 22, Turpin stared down rugby league oblivion during the last of his seven years in the Melbourne system, a badly broken ankle ending his apprenticeship under Cameron Smith without a game of first grade.

“I say this to anyone who listens,” Turpin tells NRL.com.

“If I didn't go to Melbourne I wouldn't be where I am or the player I am now. They instilled a lot in me.  

“I was playing for Sunny Coast and did my ankle pretty badly. That kept me out for six months, it was a rough break.

“It was just under a compound fracture with pretty much every single bone broken in it, all the ligaments, the syndesmosis, just all gone.

“They did tell me before I had surgery that some players don't come back from it.

“My head noise was just through the roof. Thankfully I was able to get back and put it to the side pretty well.

“Craig was really good with me at Melbourne. I had heaps of injuries but he looked after me, kept me going and kept me working.”

Turpin needed to.

Another broken ankle followed early last season, just a few months into his new two-year deal with the Broncos.

“Just a clean break that one so that was almost a relief in comparison,” Turpin grins.

A couple of familiar faces from his Melbourne days have lobbed at Red Hill too.

Matt Lodge, Turpin’s first roommate when he arrived in the Victorian capital two days after finishing high school.

And Anthony Seibold, who as Storm assistant switched him out of the halves and to hooker – “a good move when the broken ankles slowed me down a bit.”

With McCullough’s recovery from an MCL injury tracking to have him back in round 13 and James Segeyaro picked up for the rest of the year, Turpin knows his first grade chances could dry up soon.

He was upgraded to the Broncos top squad earlier this season but remains without a deal for 2020.

Regardless, every man and his dog in Haigslea knows how far he has come for his four NRL games – all wins – to date, and turn out accordingly.

“Last time I went home I went to the pub and I didn't have to pay for a beer,” he says.

“Mum and dad they'll go home after a game and people will be waiting for them to get there, to have a chat and say congratulations.

“It's that country town style, it's really good to see. Neighbours and friends always sending well wishes so it's a nice touch.”