Player Profile
Rod Talbot Age: 47 Runner-up, Victorian Championships, 2001-2002 World Championships player, 2001

A competitive instinct
Rod was born in Newcastle (NSW). He was one of a family of seven -  with one sister and five other brothers. Sport was an important part of Rod’s childhood, with competition being fierce but fair between he and his siblings. Rod excelled at soccer, playing as a striker or on the wing where he could use his speedy play and ability to hook the ball from the tightest of positions into unexpected openings. He made underage representative soccer teams and also represented NSW in badminton. In this sport, and in his tennis, he would manoeuvre his opponents with tight play before finishing them off with moves deep into the corners.

The secret life of plants
After Newcastle Boys’ High School, Rod started a  course in Sociology at Newcastle University.  But he soon became more interested in Horticulture and completed a Horticultural Certificate at Newcastle TAFE. Rod started his own garden maintenance business in Newcastle. He then worked in retail nursery businesses in Newcastle and Sydney where he managed nurseries in Balmain and Willoughby.

A budding talent
While living in a flat in Sydney's Lane Cove, Rod’s Scrabble career began in earnest. After joining the Balmain BUGS club in 1994, Rod was bitten by the tournament Scrabble bug and eagerly started club hopping. It wouldn’t be unusual to find Rod at four clubs during a single week. Furthermore, he fitted in regular games with other strong players during the week.  Nowadays, he still plays extra games to supplement his bi-weekly diet of club competition Scrabble.

He knows a PANICLE from a SANICLE
Rod nurtures a huge word knowledge grown from botanical terms. He knows his roots, stems and flowery language. He has been dubbed Captain Hook because of his mastery of add-on letters. Rod is also renowned for clever tile tracking and a shrewd endgame. Rod’s Scrabble has gone from strength to strength. Rod strung together an impressive series of tournament wins from mid-2000 onwards. After achieving second place in Victoria's State Championship, he became Queensland State Champion (plus won four tournaments in metropolitan Sydney). His well-earned ratings gain boosted him into the Australian team bound for Las Vegas. Having achieved that goal he soon set off on a lengthy European sortie plus a foray to North America (he also took a laptop loaded with a word study program).