There's more than a love of the game behind the work of NRL physiotherapist Matthew Natusch.

When the 2008 Rugby League World Cup summons Papua New Guinea to the “pool of death” later this year, Cairns physiotherapist Matthew Natusch, 41, will be by their side.

The former physiotherapist for the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm has been working on a near-voluntary basis with the Kumuls, PNG’s national rugby league team, since 1994. 

“PNG is the only country where rugby league is the national sport,” Matthew says of the nation where about 50 per cent of the population aged under 20 plays the game.

The Kumuls made it to the quarter-finals of the last Rugby League World Cup in 2000. That was no small achievement given that 16 nations competed in what became the largest international tournament in league history. Their ranking means PNG will enter this year’s World Cup from the same play-off pool as the world’s top teams of Australia, England and New Zealand. It’s the toughest grouping in which to start the tournament. “We call it the pool of death,” Matthew says.

It was during the 2000 World Cup in France, while working with the Kumuls, that Matthew met and was invited to join the physiotherapy team serving the Brisbane Broncos.

Born and trained in New Zealand, he moved to Australia in 2001. After working with the Bronco’s Reserve and A Grade players for a year, Matthew joined the Melbourne Storm as physio for the
A Grade team in 2002. “Part of the challenge in working with elite athletes is that they are so keen to prove themselves. They tend to go further than instructed and risk injuries. And when they are injured, they often tend to hide it,” he says.

Matthew recalls young Storm player, Dallas Johnson, training with a broken toe for his first preseason tryout. “These players are driven. Turn your back and they’re likely to do 50 more push-ups than the coach asked for.”

Matthew describes the physiotherapist’s role as a balancing act, weighing up the interests of the individual player against those of the team. “Sometimes a player will tell you about an injury, but not the coach. You become a middle person, sometimes more of a friend,” he says. “There’s a lot of trust involved and there are times when you do have to make tough decisions.”

A physio’s closeness to the players can combine with their health training to create the role of team confidant in more than just professional matters. It’s a role Matthew respects and he is reluctant to give away any in-house anecdotes.

“I know what I’ll tell you,” he says when pressed for a behind-the-scenes story and he gives a general description of how 3600 condoms, given as a thank you gift from the HIV/AIDS Council to NRL players (who helped with a PNG health education campaign), became the gambling currency for a back-room poker match between teams in France in 2000.

Matthew left the Storm in 2004 after a playful tackle by a few of the players left him with a ruptured disc in his neck and the need for surgery. Deciding to take a break from the rigours of professional football, he says: “I wanted a better balance with my family life too”.

“I have six-year-old triplets – two boys and one princess,” Matthew says. He, his wife Edna and their three children moved to Cairns the day before Cyclone Larry struck. “We wondered if we’d done the right thing,” he says.

But life settled down after he found a job with a Cairns clinic that also allowed him the flexibility to maintain his work with the Kumuls. “I travel up there every four to six weeks,” he says. “For PNG, rugby league is a big part of life. Flags fly for weeks before the State of Origin match.”

He says the streets and even the hospital beds are empty on the night of the match but: “The hospital is full again the next day. You even come across old NRL jumpers being worn in the jungle and in remote villages”.

The son of lay missionaries, Matthew developed a love for PNG during his childhood. With his mother a nurse and his father a carpenter, the family of seven children travelled the Pacific on postings to island nations including Samoa and Vanuatu. Matthew’s first experience of PNG was the three years he lived there from the age of four.

“My first school was in a village,” he says. “Even though we lived in other countries, I couldn’t wait to get back.”

Choosing physiotherapy as his career, Matthew studied in Dunedin, New Zealand, and completed about six years of post-graduate clinical experience before returning to live in PNG. It was a painstakingly long effort for an enthusiastic young man but despite the temptation of returning earlier, “someone convinced me I could be of more use with experience and they were right”, Matthew says.

“PNG is a wealthy country in terms of natural resources but at times that wealth doesn’t seem to filter down to the majority of people. The minimum wage is low and the country’s health and education services are struggling to get the most basic necessities. For me, the heartbreaking thing is the health system. Hospitals are so understaffed and so under-resourced that sometimes they can’t even offer a Panadol. People can lay on the floor of casualty departments for days waiting to be seen.”

Matthew worked full-time at a PNG hospital for three years and has continued to work as a volunteer physiotherapist, visiting people in the villages on his trips for the Kumuls.

“There’s always someone who knows someone who needs the help,” he says. “I’ve been going back long enough now for local people to start recognising me. At first they remembered me for what my parents had done, now they remember me for what I have done. It’s a good feeling to be doing something positive.”

In a country renowned for its problem with violent crime, Matthew’s volunteer work has also been helped by his role with the Kumuls. “A lot of the rascals,” he says referring to the local name for criminals, “have started playing rugby league and some of them have sort of started looking out for me. But I’m still careful. I don’t go walking at night, for instance.”

Matthew’s volunteer efforts seem to emanate from a sense of social justice inspired by his parents and a desire to do something practical.

“It can be overwhelming at times but I have a real love for the country,” he says. 

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