Former NSW star Jarrod Mullen will make a shock comeback to rugby league this weekend after the extraordinary revelation he was just 20 minutes from dying through a drug overdose.

“I was choking, grey and taking my last breaths,” said Mullen, who played State of Origin in 2007.

Mullen, who will play for Port City Breakers in group three this season, is now totally clean of drugs and alcohol.

“Six-and-a-half years being sober, brother, I haven’t touched alcohol or drugs, it’s the best thing I have ever done,” Mullen said. “It’s good to wake up on a Sunday at home and not be at some weirdo’s house. My life was chaos, to be quite honest. It just spiralled out of control.”

In a remarkable interview, Mullen, who turned 38 on Wednesday, spoke of a cocaine addiction and life-threatening drug overdose in 2018.

But the horror times are now behind the 211-game Knights five-eighth, who will play his first game for Port City against cross-town rivals Port Macquarie Sharks in a big group three game this Saturday at Port Regional Stadium from 3pm.

One reason Mullen moved to Port Macquarie was to escape “a few demons” in Newcastle.

Recalling his overdose in Newcastle, Mullen said: “I was on a big drinking and drug bender at a mate’s house which went from Friday to Sunday. I was taking cocaine, I had a problem with it.

“Mum (Leeann) and Dad (Steve) texted me to say they were coming to see me to take me out for lunch on the Sunday.

“So I had to try and get the heart-rate down because I was too wired so I took some Xanax and OxyContin to calm me. I went home and all I remember is putting on the TV and then waking up in the ambulance with mum beside me.

“When Mum and Dad came home and I was choking, grey and pretty much taking my last breaths so they called the ambulance just in time.

“Apparently if mum and dad had turned up 20 minutes later then I was pretty much gone. It was a close call. As I said, I was taking my last breaths. Mum and dad picked me up and dragged me outside and waited for the ambulance.

“They obviously still have mental scars from all that, seeing their son nearly die. They didn’t know how much I was using.”

Mullen also served a four-year ban from the NRL after testing positive steroids in 2017 – a suspension which made him feel ostracised by former Newcastle teammates.

“You try to mask things with drugs and alcohol because you don’t want to feel the pain. After the positive drug test, the Knights boys were told they weren’t allowed to talk to me so I was really isolated,” Mullen said.

“I couldn’t leave the house without being off my head in some way, whether that was drugs or painkillers. I thought everyone was talking about me, you get that paranoia and it just spiralled out of control.

“My close mates were trying to tell me I had a problem and to settle down a bit but I was that far into it that you start blaming everyone else. ‘Stop telling me to calm down because you’re taking it too’. Cocaine doesn’t last that long so you want more and more.

“You’re just in denial until you get clean and sober and actually get your shit together and then you realise what you’re doing. Until you start accepting that you’re the problem then you’re never going to change.

“I was in hospital (after the overdose) and then went into rehab for 30 days in Sydney. I stopped then and haven’t gone back. I don’t miss it at all.”

Mullen, who will also complete work in the group three junior development and training this season, said the Knights drug test drama was another “low point.”

“There was someone outside the club who the boys knew who f…ed me over back then,” he said. “We were mates and he didn’t back me up. That was the lowest point because everyone still thinks I did the wrong thing.

“What was put into my system stays there for six months. We were tested every two to three weeks so why would I go out and do something that would jeopardise my career when it stays in your system for six months? It didn’t make sense.”

Adding to his woes at the time, Mullen was sentenced to 300 hours of community service in February 2020 for supplying cocaine in 2018.

But with a clean life and healthy attitude, Mullen will play halfback for Port City this weekend after two injury-ravaged seasons with Corrimal on the NSW south coast.

“It’s a local derby, a grudge match,” Mullen said. “I’m playing for Port City because I have family around the Taree, Wingham and Krambach areas. It’s bit quieter up here rather than busy Newcastle.

“After what happened to me in Newcastle, there are a few demons back there and, to be honest, I needed a change. I train every day doing gym work, that’s more of a mental thing.

I’ve really worked hard on my body and it’s probably the best shape I’ve been in since I stopped playing.”

Mullen has started his own business, called CoachAi, where he teaches around country areas the finer art of playing rugby league.

“My full-time job is one-on-one and small group coaching,” Mullen said. “We are the first digital, online coaching platform in Australia and it’s taken off. We have filmed more than 1000 drills.

“Essentially, we want to coach coaches how to coach better. Everything ‘Joey’ (Andrew Johns) taught me, I’m passing on, so it’s a bit of a cheat sheet. I film every session, cut it up and send it back to the kids and family so they can see that they’re doing right and wrong.”