THOUGH shalt not take an interest in bonsai plants. Though shalt not finish off length-of-the-field back-line movements. Though shalt not call oneself "the people's DJ". And though shalt certainly not rev oneself up for a big game by listening to George Michael.

If there were an instructional manual written for forwards, Brett White has ripped it to shreds in the same way he is destroying opposition packs. And if he can get over just one more forward pack tomorrow night - one containing players such as Willie Mason and Sonny Bill Williams - White will complete one of the more remarkable journeys towards a NSW jumper.

Representative football was the furthest thing from White's mind three years ago. St George Illawarra signed the promising Cooma junior straight out of school, but first grade seemed light years away because he had serious leg and ankle injuries in 2003-04.

There were two other seemingly insurmountable obstacles blocking his path to first grade - international props Luke Bailey and Jason Ryles. But he always knew he would make it as a footballer, although the qualified plumber had to drive trucks in Sydney for six months to help pay the bills.

"I alway had the determination to make it," he says. "I always made sure that when it came I was ready. I knew if I was given an opportunity I could showcase what I can do."

That chance came in Melbourne. Nobody can spot talent better than Storm recruitment officer Peter O'Sullivan, who discovered Greg Inglis and Israel Folau. When he moved south, O'Sullivan - White's Jersey Flegg coach at St George Illawarra - made sure the 110 kilogram prop went with him.

"Making it was only about a little bit of luck going his way," O'Sullivan says. "He's a great kid, great trainer, tough. A few injuries held him back, but nothing else."

The move proved a masterstroke. White was Storm rookie of the year in 2005, when he learned his trade under stalwart Robbie Kearns. When Kearns retired a season later, White stepped into the breach, earning himself a Country Origin jersey.

"He was very humble, very quiet in his early days - exactly what you'd expect from a country front-rower," Kearns says of his protege. "They probably thought the thing they'd miss [after my retirement] is the experience and leadership, but he's more than made up for that with his enthusiasm and go-get-them, no-nonsense attitude. He'll do all the dirty work for the flash outside backs.

"The first year he came down he was very quiet. Last year he was the main man of the place. He's definitely become one of the more vocal guys around the club.

"The boys seem to think he's a big George Michael fan. He doesn't let anyone listen to his iPod but there's definitely a bit of Wham! come out of it before games.

"He's a bit of practical joker."

White's first practical joke was the personal bio he filled in for the Storm website when he joined the club. "I thought, 'No one is going to read this'," White said. "I was sitting at home and was trying to come up with interests and I had a little bonsai sitting there that I'd been given as a birthday present. I thought bonsai would be something to have a bit of a laugh at so I wrote that down.

"[Herald journalist] Roy Masters picked up on it and did a story. I told him it was only a joke, but there it was [as a headline] 'Bonsai Brett' - the front-rower who's into flowers.

"It went from there. I got a few more and I recently bought a new house in the suburbs. Across the road there are a couple of people who are right into it, one's the president of the bonsai club and they want me to join. You never know, I might get into it."

His teammates love him. You only have to be on one of the Storm's trips, and see him battle for the microphone with co-captain Cameron Smith, to see how far out of his shell he has come.

"Cam sits up the front of the bus behind the driver and acts like a tour guide," White says. "The other day he spent two hours from Gosford to Sydney talking the whole time. That's the sort of bloke he is when he gets on the mic. The boys up the back try to grab hold of it and I grab it from him and stir him up.

"There's always a comment about his hairy body or how under the thumb he is. There's plenty of stuff. The boys laugh at everything I say, so I've become 'the people's DJ'."