Greg Inglis grappled with his mental health problems and hit rock bottom in an emotional episode of Australian Story over a wild weekend.
The former NRL star is one of the game’s greats, but behind the incredible exploits on the field was a man who was lost and confused at times.
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A knee injury at the end of the season in the 2017 opening round triggered the former Storm and Rabbitohs player’s descent into depression. He treated himself with alcohol and endured fleeting mood swings as life without a foot grew dark.
“When I was feeling bad, training was the only thing that kept me stable,” Inglis told the ABC program. “Part of the reason my ACL had this massive effect was that I didn’t have the routine.
“I tried to stay at the club and get involved in the rugby league but something that I loved and have been doing for so long was just taken away and I didn’t know how to deal with it.”
A rehab trip in May this year didn’t have the desired effect and in 2018 Inglis was caught driving a car just a few hours after being appointed kangaroo captain. Later that year he broke up with long-time partner Sally Robinson, the mother of his two children.
Former South Sydney CEO Shane Richardson, a close confidante of Inglis, knew there was something to be given.
“He collapsed,” said Richardson. “I knew what he would be like. I knew how it would affect him. And how he would really struggle with it personally.
“The off-season is the most dangerous time for a player because he has so much time and money to spend. So Greg’s off-season was always a concern. “
Inglis’ body let him down and the desire to play at the highest level had subsided. The defender was still struggling with knee problems and announced his retirement in just two games in the 2019 season.
Without having a footing again, Inglis returned to some dark places. A wild bender in Brisbane during the NRL Magic Round, where every game was played in the Queensland capital, was the biggest fear family and friends had to date.
Inglis traveled up as a Rabbitohs ambassador but was missing for two days while embarking on a boisterous adventure.
It was later revealed that Inglis was hiding in a mansion in Brisbane with a former nude model and a candidate on the reality TV show The block, Suzi Taylor, whom he met at a hotel in Fortitude Valley on Thursday evening, signaling the start of the Magic Round.
“I think Greg wanted to come and just be nobody and just hang out with me in a Queensland house because it’s far from the NRL community and something he had to do himself,” Taylor told Yahoo last year.
“He wanted some comfort. He wanted normal company.
“He texted me and called me, and it’s like a friend in need. He just wanted somewhere, some peace and quiet, and that’s what I did for him in the end. “
No one in Souths knew where Inglis had gone or how to find him, and Richardson, who knew the fuzzy superstar well, feared the worst.
“It was a really tough time,” said an emotional Richardson Australian history. “For 48 hours we didn’t even know where he was. But we eventually figured it out and set things up to bring him home.
“I was afraid that he would kill himself because he just couldn’t see a way out.
“From where he was going and how he was going to get there, he felt like he was going to let everyone down.”
Inglis told Australian history He was not suicidal that worrying weekend but had “bottomed out” and “had bottomed out” before he could really help himself.
Inglis, at his lowest point, said he routinely drinks three bottles of wine in one sitting.
“The people around me, the family around me, have been affected by my mood swings,” he said.
“I felt like a ***. I thought, ‘Oh, darn it. I’m just going to have a drink ‘. Before I knew it, a bottle was gone. Go to dinner, there’s another bottle left. Come home, there’s another bottle left. “
A second visit to a rehab facility followed, and this time he undertook to receive treatment that diagnosed him with bipolar II disorder. The diagnosis changed everything. The drugs he was prescribed work wonders and Inglis is now enjoying life on the family estate of his friend Alyse, who takes care of horses.
“When I see the people around me, it still hurts to see what I’ve been through,” he said. “My partner Alyse, she went through it. She rode a damn wave, (now) she rides a good wave. “
Life was going so well that the 33-year-old shocked everyone earlier this year when he announced he was making his rugby comeback and signed a one-year deal with British Super League team Warrington.
Inglis, the ultimate fairytale end to his career, refused this week to rule out his possible home state return for Queensland this year after Maroon’s manager Kevin Walters said he had Inglis on his mind.
Even if he’s not saying goodbye to dream football, Inglis’ comeback from rock bottom means that his story is already a very real modern fairy tale.
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