And who can blame him? After all, what price would a rusted on Balmain Tigers fan pay for a dozen home matches a season at the famous suburban ground these days?

“Playing there on a Sunday afternoon was the best; running out, there’d be a sea of orange in the crowd,” the rugby league legend told Inside Sport through the week.

These days Blocka is a regular panel member on Fox Sports’ weekly show On The Couch With Sterlo and also commentates on a regular basis for the pay TV channel. We caught up with the great man at the launch of Fox League’s annual Retro Round at the Bristol Arms Hotel in Sydney. Fox League is this weekend celebrating rugby league in the 1980s. They’ve been bringing Retro Round to life throughout the week and will continue to do so across Round 22 of the NRL premiership.

A key aspect of rugby league in the late 1980s was the sport’s coup of American rocker Tina Turner, who appeared in the first-ever marketing campaign by an Australian sporting body. As Roach recalls, production of the Simply The Best and What You Get Is What You See television adverts suddenly put toiling footballers within reach of superstardom.

“Mate, we couldn’t believe it. Here was this world-renown person getting involved in rugby league,” Roach says. “Hello! It was mad! It made it feel like the game was something; that it was more than just a game. ‘The Winfield Cup … making the game even bigger.”

Roach, who played 185 games for his beloved Balmain Tigers in the New South Wales Rugby League between 1982-1992, said the historic inner-west district of Balmain and surrounds meant so much more to the players than footy.

“When you played at Leichhardt, the fans could reach out and touch you,” he remembers. “It was real. We shopped at the local butcher, went to the local fruit shop. Things were simpler then.”

(Header image courtesy Fox League)

Steve Roach and Mark Carroll ham it up at the launch of Fox League's Retro Round in Sydney. (Photo courtesy Fox League)

Roach is a proud product of the Wollongong rugby league nursery, but his ties to Balmain can be traced back to his early forays into Sydney rugby league, which he dreamt of being part of since playing mock games of footy as a young kid during the half-time break of Saturday afternoon television coverage.

“The only game ever shown on television was the ABC match of the day. I’d play knees footy with my brothers down our little hallway at home at half-time in the TV game and think: Geez, I’d love to be like those players on the TV one day. I just loved the game. Couldn’t wait to put my footy gear on. I played for Red Devils in Wollongong. It was the highlight of your life … just to play a bit of footy.

“I followed Manly when I was a kid … because of Bob Fulton. He was a Wollongong bloke, so was Graeme Langlands. Mate, I just jumped at the first opportunity I got, which was with the Tigers. In those days you had to play two years in the juniors to qualify for first grade. So I came up to Sydney not knowing anyone. It was about relying purely on your will to want to do it.”

The 17-game New South Wales Blues veteran and 19 Test-match stalwart for Australia was lucky enough to be spurred on by unarguably the best supporter a rugby league player could have on their side, the great Laurie Nichols. For almost a quarter of a century, Nichols would famously shadow-box on the sideline at Leichhardt Oval in an attempt to fire the Tigers up as they ran through the players’ race and out onto the field.

“Laurie Nichols would be there throwing air punches: ‘Carn the Tigers.’ That was Sunday arvo footy at our home ground … Just seeing him stand there and supporting the team no matter what: win, lose, draw at Leichhardt.”

As Roach remembers, Nichols was also famous for his rhyming slogans, which he’d direct the players’ way as they ran past him.

“There’d be Wayne Pearce - he’s so fierce. Garry Jack - the world’s best back. David Brooks - spoils their looks. His one for me was: Steve Roach - teach them not to boast. It didn’t really rhyme!

“He rubbed off on everyone, though; the love that he had. You could feel his genuine love for the game.”