Importance of being a role model
WHEN young players start their career in professional football, sometimes being a hero is not what they signed up for.
As a kid they loved playing rugby league, or any sport, for the love, and were lucky enough to become a professional athlete.
But part of the package – the money, the games, the fame – comes with the tag. You’re a role model.
As much as you don’t want it, you have it 24/7 – and it is getting harder and harder for young players.
I’ve seen the change since I first started playing professionally in 1998 at the age of 18, and I’ve had to adapt to the change.
I remember the day when Maty Rogers was first on Twitter and I didn’t know what it was all about.
It was 2009, a week before we played Parramatta at home and I remember he said “Mate you’re going to need to get on” so I signed up.
Now any young kid who signs a footy contract is expected to act like a pro- fessional on every platform. Kids and parents are watching their every move. I guess that’s the world we live in.
In Australian society sport is massive and loving sport comes hand in hand with being an Aussie. I remember when I was a kid, Origin was on our TV and every weekend was football, and at any barbecue your mum and dad are talking about
cricket or about