His departure from the international scene after the 1995 World Cup in Britain came as a major culture shock to the Kiwis,

Igniting it for the Eels. Igniting it for the Eels. Image: Getty Images

Before the quick-stepping Benji Marshall, before  “The Little General” Stacey Jones and before those clever Paul brothers,

New Zealand rugby league pinned its on-field organisational hopes on tenacious number seven Gary Freeman … for a long, long

time. His departure from the international scene after the 1995 World Cup in Britain came as a major culture shock to the Kiwis, who enjoyed his services in 46 Tests over nine years, including a record-breaking stretch of 37 consecutive appearances.Equally as glad to see the back of the ultra-patriotic and ultra-competitive halfback were his opponents in the weekly suburban gladiatorial arena that was the New South Wales Rugby League. He got his hands dirty starring for 1988 and ’89 grand finalists Balmain Tigers, the Eastern Suburbs Roosters (where he landed club footy’s ultimate individual prize, the Dally M, in ’92), the Penrith Panthers and finally the Parramatta Eels in a year-long lap of honour.Since then he’s been seen in the New Zealand Kiwis coach’s box and in Camp New South Wales, helping head mentor Wayne Pearce in the early 2000s. These days he can be spotted by Fox Sports’ NRL viewers mid-week and on game n

ights and can be heard spreading “wizdom” on Sky Sports Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast.Inside Sportshared a couple with “Wiz” after he knocked off from a hard day’s work for gaming machine company Konami (where he’s state sales manager) to get his thoughts on how the “greatest game of all” is still great

Does it get any better than sitting around talking footy with a bunch of your former on-field rivals during Monday night football and on Wednesday for NRL On Fox?

The Monday night show is massive now, the ratings are going through the roof. And NRL On Fox is great, too. We have “Wazza” (host Warren Smith), “Lozza” (Laurie Daley) and Gary Belcher. The best thing about it is that everyone gets on fantastically. We love the game, we’re honest, open. Sometimes I’m a little over the edge, but you’ve got to have an opinion because that’s what people watch and listen for. We’re in a position where we have to comment. It’s about being honest. Viewers and fans don’t want to hear made-up stuff, they want to hear it as it is.

How hard is it listening to media types and fans who’ve never played the game rant and rave about teams’ form and how the game should be run?

Honestly, the fans, to me, are who run the game. If you don’t have fans, you don’t have football sides … you don’t have sport in general. I use Cronulla as an example. Those fans, that core who gets out there, there’s about 300 of them at the ground every week with their jerseys on in the toughest of times, and then there’s the thousands of other people at all the other clubs who buy season tickets each year. Mate, the fans are who the game’s made for.