He was a fabulous sight in full flight and used his speed and anticipation to score 21 tries. Inside Sport caught up with him to investigate the secrets of his success ‒ at work and play.

One half of the once-lethal Jason Little -Tim Horan centre combo. One half of the once-lethal Jason Little -Tim Horan centre combo.
Images: Getty Images

Mick Farr-Jones apparently predicted that Jason Little’s team-mates would one day be parking their battered VWs in the circular driveway of Little’s estate for Wallaby reunions. And he was pretty close to the mark: these days you’re more likely to read about Little’s latest exploits in BRW than a sports magazine. As the Country Manager at Goodman, one of Australia’s biggest industrial property developers, Jason Little has gone from world-beating outside centre to day-to-day responsibility for $8.8 billion of property and assets, heading up the overall operations of the Australian business. Back in the day, though, Little played 79 Tests between 1989 and 2000, most outside his great mate from their teens, Tim Horan, forming what was widely acknowledged as the best centre pairing in the world – and collecting World Cups in 1991 and ’99 to prove it, plus various famous Bledisloes. He was a fabulous sight in full flight and used his speed and anticipation to score 21 tries. Inside Sport caught up with him to investigate the secrets of his success ‒ at work and play.

How would you approach the task of tackling Sonny Bill Williams?

He’s been phenomenal, hasn’t he? He has an amazing ability to offload the ball in traffic, and that is a rare, rare skill. He creates so much room for others around him, so trying to contain him would be a real handful. It would have been interesting if he’d gone straight to New Zealand when he first went to rugby; I think France might have slowed his progress.

Who’s the toughest player you ever had to handle? I’m guessing his first name was Jonah and second name was Lomu ...

I remember running out for a Test at Sydney at the Football Stadium and Ian Jones, their second-rower, ran out – and he was a big man. And then Jonah, this winger, ran out after him and he was almost the same height, but thick and fast. Just when you thought you had him, you were actually kidding yourself. It was sad that he had the kidney disease. He was brilliant.

 You always struck me as of the same kind of playing temperament as someone like John Eales – very hard to rile, and it would have to be a good reason for you to ever lose it. 

Well, I don’t think I was ever sinbinned or sent off in 30 years of playing football.