By Billie Eder
Angus Crichton is eyeing a Pacific Championships victory with the Kangaroos to crown the mother of all comeback stories.
Since starting the year in reserve grade, the 28-year-old back-rower’s stocks have soared with a call-up to the Australian team the cherry on top of a year which included a State of Origin series victory, the Wally Lewis Medal, the Brad Fittler Medal and an NRL charge that took the Roosters to the brink of the grand final.
Angus Crichton after Australia beat Tonga in their Pacific Championships opener.Credit: NRL Images
But even at his lowest point, when returning via NSW Cup after a well-publicised mental health battle, Crichton said he always knew he’d get back to representative football.
“To be honest, I always had belief and I always knew that I’d be back here,” Crichton said before the Kangaroos’ match against the Kiwis in Christchurch on Sunday.
“It’s all about working hard and taking opportunities when you get them. I didn’t have any doubt that I’d be back here for sure.”
Playing for the national team is a long way from country football for the Young Cherrypickers – Crichton’s junior club in the south-western slopes of NSW – and he said he still considered himself lucky to play representative football.
“As a kid you dream of playing for Australia, and I sort of pinch myself now sitting here. When I was younger, I was from country NSW, so the rep teams we made were Riverina, and we would go away and verse [sic] all the Sydney schools at state comps to even make the state team. My little country team would get smoked every time,” Crichton said.
“And you’d be sitting there with your fingers crossed every time at the end hoping that you’d made the NSW team. I didn’t use to make those teams, and to now be making the state team [and Australian team] is something that that little kid back when I was younger would have been dreaming of. It’s the highest honour for me.”
Having experienced the highs and lows of life and rugby league across the past two years, Crichton said it was important to acknowledge when things aren’t OK.
“Don’t be too proud. As men, and I think as athletes and footy players we can often be too proud to seek help or [worried you’ll] look like you’re weak, or look like you’re struggling, and sometimes it can be the strongest thing is to accept that you’re probably not where you need to be and to get the help that you need,” Crichton said.
“And once you do that I think that people will respond and react differently to how you can build up in your mind. Pretty much just don’t be too proud to accept that maybe you need a bit of help, and that’s the first step to getting better.”