Premiership winning Roos prop Cullenward ready to test the waters in Triathlon

The ex front-rower is better known for using his physicality to carry the Roos to a premiership win in 2014, but is now occupying as much of his time as possible preparing for multi-sport endurance events.

"It is something I've had in the back of my mind for a long time, I'd say probably the best part of five years," Cullenward said.

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"After so many years of playing prop and being 120 to 125 kilos I needed to do something that was going to keep me fit, without essentially damaging myself."

While Cullenward's always enjoyed running and swimming, the decision to begin competing in triathlons was made easier by the encouragement of co-workers and family.

"Andrew Graham, he's a business partner, he'd been talking up cycling a lot and I gave it a go and then Ben Orford, who's my brother in law, he's big in the triathlon club and between him, my sister and Jason Dearmer recommending it, I thought I'd give it a go, plus the kids really wanted to join in on the tri-stars."

That encouragement has led Cullenward to be one of the Dubbo Triathlon Club's entrants in the 2020 Husky Triathlon Festival in Huskisson.

Cullenward initially began competing mid-way through last year, taking on an Olympic style triathlon in Noosa that he jokingly says he only just survived.

"I used to do a lot of long distance stuff in high school, running and trowing, that was very good for keeping the endurance fitness going and I used to really enjoy doing that, but I let it all slip a bit and it's something that I've wanted to get back into for a while, doing it now, I am enjoying it," Cullenward said.

"Doing those long rides and long runs, I've getting a lot of satisfaction out of it, but it's tricky to find the time to prepare."

Making things easier this time is the number of friends and family lining up alongside Cullenward in Huskisson.

"My wife's doing the sprint triathlon, her sister and my brother are coming to do it, so yeah, there's a lot of us all doing it," Cullenward said.

"I've got my biggest goal set as entering the half iron man event, if I can get fit enough and with the weight I've lost, I should be able to complete it."

While he's staying humble in the lead-up, Cullenward's confident of a strong finish in his chosen focus if things play out the way he hopes.

"Step one is just to finish it, I did an Olympic duathlon in Canberra a few weeks ago and I blew up during the run, so the focus is to finish, but if everything goes the way I want it to go, I'm expecting somewhere between six and six and a half hours," Cullenward said.

The bike sections are where he expects to struggle, with much of his training having been focused on the unfamiliar area of competition.

"I've only really tried to cycle since about August and I've had to sacrifice quite a bit of running to find the time - that's the trade off, but it's been very rewarding and it's stripped the weight off me, so I'm pretty happy about it."

The competition begins in earnest on Friday, February 28 and stretches across the weekend to Sunday, March 1 and Cullenward is looking forward to putting the preparation behind him and getting things underway.

"I've done everything I need to, I'm just having a bit of a rest day right now on Thursday and then it'll be time."