Queensland Maroons hardman Michael Crocker on becoming a tradie

Australian and Queensland Maroons hardman Michael Crocker reveals why he turned his back on a career with the NRL to move home to the Sunshine State for a completely different role.

Australian and Queensland Maroons hardman Michael Crocker has revealed how he turned his back on a life still involved with NRL and instead is living in Queensland loving life as a tradie.

After announcing his retirement from the NRL in 2013, the former Queensland star was mulling over his career options, with an offer on the table to coach under Craig Bellamy at the Melbourne Storm as well as a position in Sydney at the Rugby League Players’ Association.

Former Queensland rugby league star Michael Crocker on the Gold Coast where he works with Lindores Cranes. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

“I thought about it for a couple of weeks,” Crocker, 41, said. “I was leaning towards the players’ association and Craig Bellamy said to me, ‘Mate, just whatever you do make a decision and just don’t look back’, and I’m pretty good at not looking back; I always try to move forward.

“I thought it’d be really good for my personal development to go on the other side of the football fence.”

But after a couple of years in the office job, Crocker said he started to feel “stale” sitting behind a desk.

He was also in a long distance relationship after meeting Gold Coast’s Kiri-Moana Proctor in 2016.

So with Bellamy’s advice in mind, he quit the RLPA and moved to the Gold Coast to be with Proctor at the end of 2018, despite having no work lined up in the city.

“I achieved what I needed to do in there … I needed a change. I always wanted to move back to Queensland,” he said.

After a successful period running his own junior coaching academy, he’s now working locally with Lindores Cranes.

“I’m 41 and I finally have a five-year plan,” Crocker laughed.

“It ticks all the boxes for me at the moment; physically I need to work hard.”

Michael Crocker in the Maroon jumper for Queensland against New South Wales in a State of Origin match.

Still resolute in moving forward, he jumped at the chance to apply for survival reality series Australian Survivor, a show he’d been a fan of since the first season in America, when he got a call from a former Sydney Roosters teammate last year.

“My availability was never there when I was playing. The stars aligned. My friend Anthony Minichiello called me and said, ‘You like Survivor don’t you?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I love it’ … and it went from there,” Crocker said. “I hope I do him proud.”

With the new Blood v Water season, filmed in Charters Towers in North Queensland, featuring loved ones entering as pairs, he convinced his sister-in-law Chrissy Zaremba, a Sunshine Coast teacher, to enter with him.

“Chrissy has no idea about Survivor at all. She thought we were going to Fiji to stay in a resort,” he laughed.

NRL Legend Michael Crocker and sister-in-law Chrissy Zaremba are contestants on Australia Survivor: Blood v Water. Photo: Channel 10/ Supplied

“The plan was to be undercover and hope (my NRL career) was too long ago for anyone to remember. I was just playing it off as an old tradie who loved a challenge,” he added.

“My body is OK. It’s been broken and put back together and I actually felt really good out there.”

“Working as a team … I haven’t had that buzz for a long time.”

Australian Survivor: Blood v Water premiers on Monday, January 31 on Channel 10.