Warrington star played day after brother’s suicide

MOVING your young family 12,000 miles across the world is tough in any circumstances. But swapping Sydney for Warrington just eight months after your elder brother and role model has taken his own life is another thing entirely. For Bryson Goodwin, who will step out at Old Trafford in the Super League Grand Final against Wigan tomorrow, it was a no-brainer. The 32-year-old (below) whose brother Leon passed away in March last year, said: ‘I didn’t think I was running away from anything. He isn’t here, so it is what it is.’ While understandably emotional, Goodwin — born in Australia but capped by New Zealand — calls it as he sees it. He was in Newcastle, NSW, with his then club South Sydney Rabbitohs when he received the tragic news. Within 24 hours, he had donned the famous red and green jersey. ‘I played the next day,’ the centre said. ‘All the boys and the club helped me out — I had a lot of support around me.’ That continues at Warrington, where Goodwin has enjoyed a stellar first season overseas, making both tomorrow’s final and the Challenge Cup final at Wembley with the support of his wife and three young children. He said: ‘We got here in November, at the start of the Australian summer. Within a week it was snowing. The kids had never seen it before, so they were running about. The neighbours thought we were mad.’ Goodwin was part of the Wire side who slipped to a shock defeat at the hands of Catalans Dragons at Wembley. And he is hoping the underdogs will learn from that against Wigan. Will he be using the memory of his brother as motivation? ‘If you get too emotional it can interfere,’ he said. ‘I’m sure he’ll be watching.’ GRAND FINAL: Wigan v Warrington, tomorrow 6pm, Old Trafford. TV: LIVE on Sky Sports Main Event.