IT’S always a shame to see a player of great talent not realise their potential through injury.
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Unfortunately that’s the fate that befell former Rabbitohs and Dragons centre Dylan Farrell. It’s a reality he’s accepted as he told former NRL player, now media-man, Denan Kemp’s The Locker Room podcast this week.
What he’s had to endure post-retirement, no one in the game should accept. In a small snippet of the full interview released on Tuesday, Farrell revealed that, 19 months since being forced into retirement by a back injury, he’s yet to receive any of the insurance pay-out he’s rightfully entitled to.
He’s also heard only silence from the Dragons and the NRL as he’s sought support in chasing it up. He’s had to sell his house and move home amid financial difficulties that put him “at the lowest of the low.”
For all the game’s talk of investment in, and prioritising of, player welfare, it’s a sad reality that when players are no longer an on-field asset, they quickly become expendable.
Hopefully Kemp’s effort in bringing the story to light will help Farrell, a family-man and one of the nicest blokes you’ll meet in the game, get what he’s entitled to.
Hopefully it also serves as a wake-up call for the game and and a reminder of that the duty of care it owes it’s players doesn’t cease the minute they walk off the field.