It became one of the talking points of Round 7 but Broncos prop Jarrod Wallace says he will once again dab some peppermint oil on the back of his tongue before he runs out against the Rabbitohs on Friday night; he’s just hoping for kinder treatment from the TV cameras.
Wallace and Broncos teammates such as Josh McGuire were seen in the sheds prior to running out against the Knights last week rubbing something in the inside of their mouths, sparking social media frenzy about the ‘mystery substance’.
Interest was piqued by audiences by the gagging reflex that the peppermint oil triggered in many of the players filmed using it, Wallace insisting it’s been part of his pre-game routine for the past few seasons.
"It's just strong. I put it on the back of my tongue and it gets up through your sinuses," Wallace told NRL.com.
"I think they just got me at a bad angle! It made it look a lot worse than what it was.
"I used to put the old Vicks up the nose but that doesn't work; all that did was burn.
"It's just a little thing to open up your nose and your airways before we run on. I've done it for two or three years now."
Twelve months ago Wallace’s family uncovered history detailing a relative’s contribution to the Anzacs in Gallipoli in 1915.
In the days before running out against Parramatta on Anzac Day last year Wallace was learning of deeds that George Greig performed such as that famous charge onto the beaches and manning a machine gun for 24 hours straight.
Unable to take them on the day of the game last year, the 24-year-old prop forward intends to take his two young daughters to an Anzac Day ceremony in Brisbane on Monday and begin an Anzac education that is in their blood.
"My pop told me that we had a relative that was in Gallipoli. We went through the diaries of his stuff and found some pretty cool stories of the ancestors. It was a pretty cool time for the family to learn some new things," Wallace said.
"It definitely makes you think of everything that we could have lost if they didn't do what they did for us.
"It's a pretty cool thing to think that a family member was there putting the hard yards in and it definitely makes you stop and think to be grateful for what they did for us."
As will be conducted at each of the eight NRL games over the weekend an Anzac Day commemoration will be held prior to the Broncos-Rabbitohs clash including The Ode, Last Post and the Australia and New Zealand national anthems.
