Adam Ritson frustrated by stars throwing away careers with mistakes off the field
For a bloke who cruelly had his promising NRL career cut short, Adam Ritson is admirably calm and cheerful. There’s only one topic in rugby league that riles him.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Part 2: The injury that ended Tony Caine
Part 3: Yow Yeh still dreams of coaching
They were the lucky ones — blessed with talent, passionate and on a path that led to riches and fame. Then it all came crashing down and they had to rebuild lives that would never be the same. Matt Logue continues our series profiling NRL players whose careers ended all too soon.
***
FOR a bloke who cruelly had his promising rugby league career cut short, Adam Ritson is admirably calm and cheerful.
You could understand if Ritson was bitter.
As one of the game’s highest paid players in 1996, he seemed destined for greatness until a hit from Canberra’s John Lomax.
What followed was six months in the Ryde Rehabilitation Centre. Ritson was placed on life support and went through 12 operations when doctors found an unrelated benign cyst on his brain.
Today he suffers memory loss and epilepsy.
Thankfully he hasn’t had an epileptic fit for more than a year and a half.
Despite retiring at just 20, Ritson doesn’t complain or think ‘why me?’
He understands life could be a lot worse.
It’s why sitting on a couch in his parent’s Sutherland home, the former prop is at ease, grateful and cracking jokes.
The only topic that riles Ritson is players in today’s game throwing away their careers with repeated mistakes off the field.
“They don’t understand how lucky they are,” Ritson says with a frustrated look on his face.
“I look at some of these blokes that carry on like idiots and I think to myself, ‘you’ve got such a good life, why wouldn’t you just pull your head in for 10 years’.
“They are on the big dollars and they just carry on like idiots.
“You see some of the stories and you just think, ‘what is wrong with these blokes’.
“Unbelievable. They might regret it in 10 years when they are digging holes for a living.”
After the NRL’s scandal-plagued off-season, Ritson’s anger is both timely and a reminder of the game’s fleeting lifespan.
For all fame and fan adulation, the cheering can stop in one second.
Ritson had the league world at his giant-sized feet as a prodigious schoolboy prop.
Riston made his first-grade debut for Cronulla in 1992, aged just 16.
“They were unbelievable times,” he says, smiling broadly.
“It was a long time ago now. I just remember it being exciting. I was a young kid hanging out with all these old blokes.
“I’d just started at De La Salle College in Caringbah in Year 12 and I had photographers coming out to school to take photos of me — it was great.”
On the back of his three-year Sharks stint, which included City Origin representation, he became one of the game’s most sought after props.
He was heavily pursued by a number of clubs during the Super League War in 1995 before he opted to stick with the ARL.
This is when the Parramatta Eels pounced on Ritson, parading him as their prized signature.
The boy from the Sutherland Shire was on top of the world but within weeks his budding career was over.
Only two minutes into his Parramatta debut against Canberra, he was knocked unconscious after a dangerous high tackle from Raiders forward John Lomax.
23 years on, Ritson has hazy recollections of the tackle that changed his life forever.
“I don’t remember much of the game or anything,” he reflects.
“I also don’t remember being in hospital or the rehab, which is probably a relief and a godsend.
“My parents could tell you more — they went through a lot.
“They were there every minute of the time I was in rehab for six months.
“Mum took time off work and my dad and sister were also fantastic.
“I wouldn’t have been able to survive without my family.
“It was tough to finish my career like that but I can’t do anything about it.”
Today, Ritson occasionally watches rugby league on the television. It is not that he finds reminiscing difficult, he just prefers to move on with his life.
“The old man recorded one of the classic games on Fox the other day that I played in,” he says.
“I sat there and watched it and thought, ‘look at that shit game’.
“But it wasn’t hard to watch. I’ve got no regrets about anything.
“I’m not dirty or angry — it was just interesting to watch myself play again.”
The only other reminders Ritson has of his career are a team photo of the under-15s Australian merit side he made and an old school Parramatta collectors card.
Both these items sit proudly on a dressing room table in his parent’s lounge room.
Ritson occasionally looks at the old pictures but he says they never prompt thoughts of what could have been if he didn’t get injured.
“What do you do — there is no point whinging,” he says simply.
“But I wanted to play Origin and for Australia and win premierships.
“I look at the current players and think, how good of a life have these blokes got.
“I can’t change that though. I remember watching a television show once and the guy said, ‘I thought I had it so bad when I had no shoes but then I saw a bloke with no feet’.
“That really helped me. It is so true.”
These days Ritson works three days a week on the bag at horse racing meets across Sydney. He enjoys the social interaction and having a sense of purpose.
Ritson also helps out a few friends with odd jobs while he devotes the rest of his time to watching sport.
His professional league career may have been taken from him but his passion for sport hasn’t diminished.
“I really enjoy the NBA or any sport that is on the television,” he says, grinning.
“Being an athlete again would beat working for a living but I don’t miss the training.
“It wasn’t my strong point.
“But I do miss the team environment and playing footy, though, it is a good lifestyle.
“But what do you do — you’ve have to play with the hand your dealt.
“There are plenty of people a lot worse off than me. You only have to turn on the telly and you’ll see a lot of bad stuff. It is a cruel world.
“I can get up and do what I like all day. There are a lot of people that can’t get out of bed.
“You’ve got to look at the bright side of things.”
This mentality has given Ritson invaluable perspective to push through the challenging times.
He takes anticonvulsive tablets every day for his epilepsy.
Ritson went through a stage where he was having an epileptic fit every six months.
Thankfully, he hasn’t had a fit for almost two years.
Ritson jokes that his only worry is the fact he is carrying too much weight.
“But apart from that, I’m doing all right,” he says.
“My memory is pretty good. I still forget things every now and then. I suppose that is convenient at times.
“Sometimes people will say, ‘do you remember that 50 dollars you owe me, and I’ll say what 50’?
“But I’ve been lucky in a lot of ways.”
Ritson credits the rugby league community for helping him through the tough days.
He rattles off a long list of people who have gone out their way to support him.
“I’ve had a lot of good people in my life, like Paul Dunn,” he says.
“He has been my accountant since I played football and he has always helped me invest my money and kept me alive.
“Without him I wouldn’t have much. He has been fantastic.
“My manager Steve Gillis has also been great — I’m blessed.”
Ritson’s rugby league career was cut short but he remains appreciative of the opportunities the game has given him.
It’s why he’d happily take on a job with the NRL to share his inspiring and important story with the next generation.
“I’d always look at something,” he says.
“I’ve got to get a proper job someday. Yeah, maybe someday if there is a role in rugby league I’d love to do it.”
Every game of every round of the NRL Telstra Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. SIGN UP NOW!
Originally published as Adam Ritson frustrated by stars throwing away careers with mistakes off the field
Billy Slater in insane career shift
Storm legend and Queensland coach Billy Slater has taken up a new position that nobody saw coming after the NRL season.
‘Blowhard’: Cornes backlash turns prickly
Kane Cornes has been roasted by a high profile colleague over comments that have left NRL commentators in disbelief.