O’neill ends on ‘my terms’
JUSTIN O’neill has felt for a long time this may be how his career would end.
But after giving everything he had to revive his time in Cowboys colours, ultimately he can look back and feel he has left on his terms.
And as his family juggles their most challenging period yet, he said the timing was as ideal as it could have been.
O’neill closed the curtain on a decorated tenure in the NRL, after finally succumbing to the chronic knee issues which have plagued his most recent seasons.
But prior to that he set about cementing himself in North Queensland folklore.
A maiden Cowboys premiership in 2015, which included a try of his own, was followed by a successful State of Origin debut and a stint in Kangaroos colours. It is a journey O’neill looks back on humbly, given where his rugby league dream began.
A love affair with the game was born out of the hours he spent in the car with his father Sean, who would brave the roads from Hughenden for both his son’s football and athletics endeavours.
Whether it was to Normanton or once even Canberra, O’neill’s father was there.
At times when O’neill was injured during an event, Sean would be awake through the night changing the ice nursing the affected area.
It are those memories which made O’neill’s decision to retire simpler to make. Still tough, but simpler.
Sean, the former Deputy Mayor of the Flinders Shire, is currently battling cancer which has spread throughout his body.
O’neill said for all the sacrifices his father had made he needed to relish in as much time with him as possible, free
of the NRL’S Covid-19 bubble restrictions.
“He’s doing all right, he was in hospital for a bit but is home now. I finished up and decided to get out of the bubble when the team had to reduce numbers so I opted out since I wasn’t an option to play anymore,” he said.
“It worked in my favour that I could spend more time with dad while he was going through some stuff. He went through his first chemo which hit him hard and that was the same time I decided to make my decision to end this year.
“The first round of chemo
hit him hard, but I don’t think at the time and still now if another round will be more harmful than anything. He’s got his back against the wall.
“One thing I always remember is going out to play footy and dad would say ‘ go out there and do your best, as long as you do your best that’s all you can ever ask for’.
“It’s always stuck with me, I would go out to games and if I knew I played as best as I could if it wasn’t good enough I was OK with that.
“Those messages were never to push or to be better, it was more that he was proud
with what I was achieving.” FOR THE KIDS
With a young family of his own – wife Chantelle and daughters Kasia and Giselle – O’neill said his father’s battles highlighted to him even more that his health came first. Both for his sake and his loved ones.
Back in 2013 O’neill suffered from cartilage damage in his right knee, and from there he came to appreciate they were issues which may plague him down the track.
For years it did not impact his performance, as he ascended the ranks and for a period became one of the game’s finest centres. Even in the 2021 pre-season he felt he had never trained better.
But now he said his knees had deteriorated to the point where his training had to be too extensively managed. While his left knee had never been severely hurt it too was wearing away. At times he could only train once a week.
It got to the stage where he did not believe he could contribute as meaningfully to the team in the same way he did for 190 NRL games. O’neill said the pain soon became “background noise”; instead of hurting he felt weakness.
And with two daughters to care for, he said he could not continue to soldier through knowing it could impact his future with them.
“In my mind after retiring now, knowing that my left one didn’t have any injuries but slowly deteriorated, I think it was inevitable my knees would be the ones that were going to decide whether I played 200 games plus or not,” O’neill said.
“I have two little girls, and for most of the last three or four years I’ve had to say we can’t play at the park or we can’t go and run around because purely I’ve got a game.
“I want to be there and I don’t want to be the dad that used to play rugby league but can’t do anything now.
“I’ve been lucky over the last couple of months that I made my mind up once I left he bubble I could spend that time with the girls and family.
“When it was all happening and unfolding, it was good to be around family with my dad and mum was in town too.”
THE FUTURE
Even though the door of his childhood dream career has closed, O’neill has plenty of others ready to bust down.
Now able to immerse himself in family life, the outgoing star is also aiming to return to studies in architecture, building and design – something he began while in Melbourne.
And he said he could enter his next chapter knowing he had surpassed everything he wanted to achieve with the Steeden in his hands.
“I haven’t narrowed it down to anything, I’m open to anything at the moment and happy to try something different for a change,” O’neill said.
“If anything I’m leaving the NRL grateful for everything I’ve been able to achieve.
“I feel like I left on my terms in the end.”