State of Origin: Maroons debutant Frank Molo opens up about pain of James Ackerman’s death
Frank Molo’s State of Origin debut comes six years after a shoulder charge led to the death of James Ackerman — an incident neither he or the family has moved on from.
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Queensland Origin debutant Frank Molo wants the Ackerman family to know he will never really come to terms with the tragic death of their son James.
He has tried everything to heal the mental scars.
He has tried trauma counselling.
He has tried hiding away, not leaving his house.
He has wondered many times about quitting rugby league.
In his darkest moments, Molo has even considered taking his own life.
The Molo-Ackerman affair is one of the most complex, harrowing, heartbreaking, turbulent, raw and confounding narratives in the history of Australian sport.
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Now the saga is back in full focus, with Molo to make his shock State of Origin debut for Queensland on Sunday night — almost six years to the day that his controversial tackle led to the death of Sunshine Coast Falcons player Ackerman.
On June 22, 2015, Molo — then contracted to the Broncos and playing for feeder-club Norths Devils — shoulder-charged Ackerman in the opening minutes of an Intrust Super Cup game at Bishop Park.
Three years earlier, the shouldercharge tackle had been outlawed by the NRL.
As Ackerman lay motionless on the turf, Sunshine Coast players attacked Molo, then aged just 20, calling him a “killer”.
He was given an eight-week suspension by the Queensland Rugby League judiciary.
Against this backdrop, Molo, 26, will run on to Suncorp Stadium in Origin II — just 10km from the scene of the Ackerman tragedy — for the biggest game of his life feeling a fusion of emotions.
Pride at an Origin debut he never thought he would achieve … and deep pain over a football tragedy that never really leaves his heart, or mind.
“I don’t think I will ever get over it (Ackerman’s death) fully,” Molo told The Sunday Mail. “I am trying to do the best I can and it drives me, in a way, to keep going.
“There were a lot of dark days. After the incident happened, I was always thinking about it.
“I thought about if I wanted to be around any more. I had a lot of negative thoughts.
“I blamed myself a lot for a long time. But through it all I knew I wasn’t a malicious person.
“I never wanted to hurt anyone, especially playing rugby league.”
Amid the understandable celebration over Molo’s surprise ascension to the Maroons team, the feelings of the Ackerman family must never be forgotten in this tragic tale.
On Sunday night, James Ackerman’s father Michael will join his mates on the Sunshine Coast to watch Queensland attempt to fight back after being beaten 50-6 by the Blues in Origin I in Townsville.
Like millions of Queenslanders, watching State of Origin is a family ritual for Michael Ackerman. He derived enormous joy from watching his son James play rugby league for the Sunshine Coast.
It will take some courage for Ackerman to watch Origin II on Sunday night.
He admits that when Molo runs on to the field in the No. 17 jumper, every fibre of his being will be tested.
“I will still watch the game, but Sonya (his wife) doesn’t any more,” Ackerman says.
“This is always a bad time of year for the family. It all comes back and hits us in the same month.
“James’s birthday was on the 14th of June. His mum’s birthday is on the 15th, then the anniversary of James’s death is the 22nd of June.
“So this hits us all at once … and now we’ve found out Francis Molo has made the Queensland Origin side.”
How does that make him feel?
“There is still a bit of anger there … there has been from the get-go,” Ackerman says.
“I still believe the way it (Molo’s treatment by rugby league officials after the death of Ackerman) ever since the incident wasn’t great. We are not vengeful people, but Molo got suspended at the time for his tackle on James, then he came back the next year and got suspended a second time for a shoulder charge.
“There’s a lot of people still hurting. Not just our family, but James’s mates and the Sunshine Coast players who played with him that day. We go through it every year around this time.
“When he was picked for the Origin team, it did feel like another kick in the guts. Everyone is talking about Molo’s debut, but James is sort of forgotten in all this. We’ve only heard Francis’s side of it.
“To be honest, it’s a bit hard to forgive him for what he has done.
“He could sit down and write something to us, but he hasn’t sent us a note or got in touch with us in any way, shape or form.”
Ackerman’s anger is fuelled by another incident 48 hours after his son’s death.
Michael Ackerman says he reached out first, calling Molo to try and find some common ground.
In his view, Molo showed little remorse for the tackle. At the time, the death of Ackerman, still so raw, it’s possible Molo was in a state of shock and simply didn’t know how to reconcile the tragedy.
Now, following many years of professional help and soul-searching, Molo has a message for Michael and the Ackerman family.
“The thing I want to say to their family is that I would like to reach out to them,” he says.
“When the time is right, I would like to talk to them and come out and see how we go. It crosses my mind a lot, doing that.
“When he (James Ackerman) died, it was just a shock for me.
“I was totally gutted for the Ackerman family. I felt so sorry for them. You never expect that to happen in football. It was pretty full-on and I never expected it to ever happen. I felt so bad.”
Two years after the incident, an inquest was held into the Molo-Ackerman affair.
A coroner found Molo’s shoulder charge was so forceful that it ruptured an artery in Ackerman’s neck.
Coroner John Lock told the court Molo made no contact with Ackerman’s head or neck but the force on his shoulder was enough to rupture an artery, resulting in death from a traumatic haemorrhage.
Molo broke down at the inquest as he recalled the moment.
Coroner Lock said the Queensland Police Service made the right decision to not investigate Ackerman’s death as a criminal matter.
Through it all, two parties, broken in different ways, had to press on with their lives.
Six years later, Michael Ackerman says the pain never goes away.
“It still hurts as much as ever,” he says.
Molo himself struggled with his own reparation. For 12 months, he was kept at the Broncos by then coach Wayne Bennett.
Molo had no interest in playing or training, but Bennett insisted that the Broncos had a duty to Molo’s mental health and wellbeing and supported the club’s move to have him receive counselling.
A year later, Molo sought a fresh start, signing a contract to play with the North Queensland Cowboys for the 2018 season.
“Wayne Bennett was massive for me, he saved my career,” Molo said.
“He gave me a lifeline when I was going through some hardships, he gave me another year to get back on my feet and keep going.
“I’m grateful he gave me that chance to stay at the Broncos. I don’t know if I would be here today if it wasn’t for Wayne.
“Getting professional help was important. There were days I didn’t want to wake up and go to training. I had so many dark thoughts going through my mind.
“During that time, I had so many people rallying around me. I needed them. My manager Simon Mammino was incredible, my partner was great and the Broncos and Cowboys have done so much for me.
“Through it all, I always loved the game. I wanted to keep playing if I could get my head right.”
Queensland Origin utility Ben Hunt played with Molo at Brisbane and said the death of Ackerman was a terrible time for his former Broncos teammate.
“I had a bit to do with ‘Frankie’ at the Broncos and I know that was a really tough period there for himself,” Hunt says.
“He really struggled with it for quite a long time. I think the best thing for him was getting out of Brisbane, getting away and getting a bit of a fresh start.
“It’s a real credit to Frank fighting back to play State of Origin. He has worked hard for it.”
The turning point for Molo was the birth of his first child, Ava, who arrived in the same year as the Ackerman tragedy.
He is now the father of three children and says being a parent has become his driving force to succeed in rugby league.
“I had my first girl a short time after the incident and that helped me start to recover,” Molo said.
“Ava was the reason I kept going on.
“When I had tough days and I thought, ‘f*** this, I can’t do it any more, I don’t want to leave the house’, I thought of Ava and my partner and did it for them.
“She is turning five, but we had to postpone her birthday for me to come to Origin camp.
“She is a bit dirty on me, but I think I have a good reason.
“I still can’t believe I will be playing State of Origin for Queensland. My head is spinning.
“I could have gone the other way and quit the game, but I love football and in a strange way the game has helped me deal with what happened.
“I’ve just tried to get on with life the best way I could.”
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Originally published as State of Origin: Maroons debutant Frank Molo opens up about pain of James Ackerman’s death
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