My Journey
Before I begin I would like to apologise for any spelling or grammar mistakes as I am far from a journalist! I would like to welcome you to my page and hope my story brings you some inspiration or added drive to pursue and never give up on your dreams. You can achieve anything in life if you are willing to work hard and continuously put the time and effort in.
As a young kid growing up in Port Stephens Newcastle, I started playing rugby league at the age of 15years. I suppose you could say that I’m a late starter compared to a lot of other kids these days. Rugby league is a game that I was drawn to because of the team comradery and quickly realised that with the excitement from playing and the passion I have for the game, I could actually make a career. My opportunity arose when I was 17 as I was invited to trial with the under 18’s SG ball side for the Newcastle Knights. This wasn’t meant to be my beginning as I was unsuccessful in making the squad. At the age of 19 I decided to give it one last crack as I knew if I was unsuccessful in making the under 20’s Jersey Flegg program, it would be even harder to find my way into the rugby league system. It just so happened that I saw an ad in the paper advertising an open trial day for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. This was the chance and opportunity I was after, so I packed my gear and made the road trip down to Sydney to chase a dream and a vision I had for myself. This is the day my career as a Rugby League player began.
After a successful season in the South Sydney Junior program I then earn't my first NRL full time 2year contract with the Manly Sea Eagles. My time with the Manly club was riddled with injury as I struggled with constant knee injuries that continually kept me off the field. Under these circumstances my confidence was low and I felt that I could be looked upon as an injury prone player and therefore a liability for any club. This point in time my career and my dream of playing in the NRL was depleting, as I was off contract and there wasn’t any interest from my current or opposing clubs. I was just about to pack up our life and move home to Newcastle when a last-minute lifeline offer was thrown at me by the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs
NRL Debut 2010
The contract was minimum wage but was an opportunity to hang onto my dream and to play in the NRL. Coming across from Manly I brought with me some existing knee injuries that had been poorly managed. Early in the 2010 season I earned my opportunity, under coach Kevin Moore, to make my NRL debut against the New Zealand Warriors. This was a moment I would never forget.
Running out onto the famous ANZ stadium in front of 20,000 screaming bulldog fans was the adrenaline rush of a lifetime. This experience was everything and more I’d ever imagined. This feeling of success and achievement was only short lived due to a chronic knee injury that had been following me my whole career. I played 4 NRL games in total in 2010 as my knee continued to cause me grief and hinder my performance on the field. At the end of 2010 I received the “rookie of the year award” for my first season in the NRL. It was an honour to accept such an award although I didn’t feel I had earnt this due to my knee and the ongoing problems I had throughout the 2010 season.
For the next two years, I didn’t see a single NRL game. At the end of the 2010 season I had my MCL repaired and the doctors felt that a “Lars” (artificial ligament) would be most appropriate for my playing future. This procedure turned out to be a complete failure as my knee would stay swollen and struggled to even bend to a 90-degree angle. I spent the next five months (one operation per month) continuously in and out of hospital trying to find a solution. That was the story of my 2011 struggles and didn’t make an NRL return until round 1 of the 2013 season.
2016 - My little girl watching her first game.
Best part about being an NRL player is becoming a role model for the younger generation.
(Throughout this time of injury, I definitely doubted my ability to make a return to the NRL. I was just inches from giving the game away and returning home. Relying heavily on my wife at times to even carry me up our stairs to get inside our home, or even needing her help to bath/shower as I couldn’t hold my own weight as my knee would just collapse. Times were tough, and in 2014 I fractured my skull going in to make a tackle. This was a matter of wrong place wrong time and was quickly rushed to hospital for urgent attention. I needed to wait for the swelling to go down before the surgeons would operate. Metal plates were inserted on top of the collapsed hole in my forehead. What I didn’t realise at the time of these events was how these incidents were shaping me for the future to come. Injuries come hand in hand when playing the toughest contact sport in the world. It’s how you bounce back and grow to become even more resilient than you were before the injury. From these injuries, I learned that something I love doing could be taken away from me in a matter of seconds, so don’t take for granted a single moment you have in this life as a footballer).
“tough times never last but tough people do” Robert H. Schuller.
Fractured Skull - Surgeons had to cut across my hair line and pull my face down to insert three metal plates across the top of my left eye.
2016 - Saying farewell to a Club and mates I will forever miss.
My career at the Canterbury Bulldogs built and shaped the player and man I am today. I started in 2010 and finished my time in the blue and white at the end of the 2016 season. It’s always hard to step outside your comfort zone and introduce change by leaving a club that you had been with for so long. Although, this chapter ahead was one that I welcomed.
I now moved on to find a new home with the Penrith Panthers where I joined at the beginning of 2017.
It’s an amazing feeling when you get to turn your dreams into a reality and call Rugby League, the game you love to play, a full time job. Just one NRL game was my only wish, now I’ve played over 100 NRL career games and never take a second for granted.
The hardest decision of my life was to walk away from the game I love. After fracturing my skull in 2014, an Infection in my knee from ANZ stadium in 2016, and now a ruptured bowel (2018), I knew my time was up. The amount of pressure and stress these injuries have placed on my family over the course of my Rugby League career have been tough. Nothing in this world is more important than family and I wasn't prepared to risk walking away from the game with life long injuries that impact on my quality of life. I will be forever grateful for the journey and career I've had in this life as a professional athlete.
To all those young players that love their Rugby League - dream big! Don't ever let someone tell you, you can't do something. If an average normal kid with no natural talent like myself, who grew up in a small country town can make the NRL, then anyone who is motivated and driven enough can!
2017 - Panthers v’s Broncos
Now I look forward to working with the next generation of players and teaching them what I have learnt throughout my career. The thought of being able to help guide young players and to see someone else bring their dream to life and experience this journey as a Rugby League player, makes me extremely excited about our Leading Edge program.
New Chapter Begins - Leading Edge Rugby League Academy