Shane Webcke: 'My father's death changed me'

PODCAST: Broncos legend shares his story from tragedy to greatness.

LISTEN: Football legend Shane Webcke shares a coffee chat with Matt Collins. Picture: Contributed

We often think our sporting superstars have it easy. One of the greatest Brisbane Broncos of all time, Shane Webcke, is living proof that it takes monumental effort, bravery and courage to overcome life's challenges. Even after his playing days and transitioning into a sports reporter for Channel 7, Shane still didn't think he was good enough. Add to that a tragic farming accident that killed his father and you have a man who has defied the odds to become one of the country's greatest sportsmen.

LISTEN: Click below to hear the full conversation.

Matt Collins: How old were you when you started with the Broncos?

Shane Webcke: When I first went to Brisbane I was 18.

MC: You were still a baby.

SW: And I wasn't ready for it. Someone like Steve Price, who went on to play for Canterbury (Bulldogs), he was ready for that because when you think you are going to do something, you make it your business to know what it is all about. That prepares you. I didn't. I didn't have a clue.

MC: Why do you say you didn't know what to do?

SW: I knew it was important, but I was still living with mates and we had a terrible lifestyle. We were all paid fortnightly and I remember the first week it'd be beer and pizza, the next week it'd be noodles and water.

MC: Hardly conducive to a professional sporting career.

SW: Exactly.

MC: So what changed? Shane Webcke became one of the greatest Brisbane Broncos to ever play the game. Do you remember a point where that changed for you?

SW: I know exactly when it changed, Matt. That was on the 21st of June 1994 after a State of Origin. At three o'clock in the morning, I got a phone call form my mother telling me my father had been killed in a workplace accident. He was killed in a horrible industrial accident and that is what changed me.

MC: How did it change you?

SW: I went home. I decided that I wasn't going back to footy. I was very close to my dad, so my whole world got turned around and I grew up in a day. It was the exact moment my football career started.

MC: Is there a secret to being a one-team man? It's very unique these days, but you played every NRL game for the Broncos. Was that your intention?

SW: I am by nature a loyal bloke. But the interesting thing about loyalty is it's a two-way street. Sometimes to be loyal to something is to know that you've got to go. I was lucky in that I got better as I got older, and that allowed me to be valuable to the club for those years. But the great distorter in all of this is money.

MC: Well, why did you stay if there was more money at other clubs?

SW: Well, I am a human being, so I used to question myself about that. I questioned Wayne (Bennett) about it once. It was on a Kangaroo tour and I found out what all the other blokes were on. Because that's what you do when you're sitting around having a few beers. I worked out I was getting a whole lot less. So I asked Wayne and he said, 'Well, before you knew that you were happy with the deal you'd signed, weren't you?' and I said 'yeah', and he said, 'If you go through life comparing yourself to other people you are never going to be happy.' After that I never thought about it again.

MC: You had been at Channel 7 for six months before you ever started reading the news. What took so long?

SW: I was too immature. I had lived this closeted life in the NRL and you really are babied. People who work their whole lives know you just turn up and go to work. In the NRL, you are told what to do and where to be. Wayne said to me, 'You have to turn up with the same attitude you had for football. Be the same workhorse you were when you played for me.' So that afternoon I went up to the Channel 7 programmer and I said: 'I'll be reading the news tonight.'

LISTEN: Click below to get the full conversation with Shane Webcke.