Broncos CEO Paul White is on the road to recovery

PAUL White has sacked coaches, players and fought through a salary cap drama. And now the Broncos CEO is tackling cancer head on, and winning.

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HIS hair was not quite blowing in the wind, but at least the breeze had resistance for once as Broncos chief Paul White drove for the first time in six months.

A country music aficionado, a passion he and veteran broadcaster Ray Hadley bonded over, White wound down the windows and put the key in the ignition.

“I had Slim Dusty playing,” White says.

“I drove myself to the coffee shop and got my own coffee which meant a lot.

“Getting the license back was draining actually. It was a neurological test. They flashed a lot of lights at me, tested my balance.

“Angela (his wife) has been amazing but we were wearing thin of each other’s company because she had to drive me everywhere for six months.”

White’s five minute sojourn last Wednesday was a major milestone in his recovery from brain cancer.

The tumour in White’s brain is retreating.

The bald head that gave him an intimidating edge now allows grey spikes to grow.

White is winning his battle with cancer just as he said he would last July when first diagnosed following a shock seizure.

Brisbane Broncos Coach Wayne Bennett with CEO Paul White. pic mark evans

The tumour was thankfully discovered early but its emergence occurred at the worst possible time.

This year is White’s sixth as Broncos’ chief executive.

In the first four years White sacked two coaches, one of whom was his best friend, tapped dozens of players on the shoulder and fought through a salary cap drama the club was eventually cleared of.

In 2015, the decisions he made were finally proving correct.

Brisbane’s grand final surge should have been the moment White took a breath and felt satisfied.

Instead, he collapsed as his heart rattled inside him and his hands ripped at his shirt in panic.

He underwent intensive radium treatment that left him bedridden most afternoons.

He had to rely on Broncos players, staff, and his family to accompany him everywhere he went.

Still, White remains an optimist.

His father Denis passed away in mid-January, a man so popular in Rockhampton they named a bar in his honour.

It was another test in what some would describe the worst period of his life.

Not White though.

Paul White with his wife Angela and daughters Emily, Madeleine, Molly, and Annabel. Photography David Kelly

He is recounting his past six months on Suncorp Stadium’s turf while Broncos fans form a disorderly line around him, waiting for a photograph at the club’s member’s day.

The first question is always: “How is your health?”

The response is always a broad smile.

“I look back on the last year as one of the best in my life,” White tells The Sunday Mail.

“When I hit the deck in June I thought that was it.

“Everything post that has been better.

“It has been a tough six months for the family more than me. When you are having treatment you are little bit in control but for my family the unknowns were hard to deal with.

“I have just finished four rounds of chemo.

“I had an MRI at the end of December which revealed positive signs the tumour has started to retreat.

“It is low-grade, so it grows slowly and retreats slowly but that’s what the doctors expected.

“I continue to tolerate the chemo well and it is not knocking me about too much.

“I will have three-monthly MRI’s and continue chemo therapy.

“It is not having a material impact. I do get a bit sick still, but not enough to keep my home.

“I am not a good patient though.

“The club, the chairman (Dennis Watt) and Wayne (Bennett) were terrific. I owe the club and the staff a lot.

Broncos CEO Paul White. Pic Mark Calleja

“I have total memory of the seizure.

“If you can imagine never being sick in your life and then having a heart attack … not good.

“By the time I regained consciousness, even that day, I felt privileged. I am running with that now.

“You turn to family, friends, support, and your faith. My mum and dad gave me that faith.

“It has helped us in the last couple of weeks with what dad went through too.”

Privately, Broncos players nominate White’s strength during his brain cancer battle as a significant reason for their finals success.

Their premiership hopes were dashed after the grand final siren, yet the heartbreak of that game still elicits a smile from the country copper who became a mining executive.

“The way we won through to the grand final with two outstanding performances in front of our crowd was special,” White says.

“We fell a few seconds short, but I couldn’t fault the club or the players.

“You can’t have too many regrets.”

The Broncos are favourites to win the premiership this season.

James Roberts during a Broncos training session. Pics Tim Marsden

The James Roberts signing and maturation of halves Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford expected to deliver their first trophy since 2006.

Brisbane are embracing the hype.

The club’s key performance indicator is to make the top four every year.

Realistically, if injuries are favourable, their goals should be grander this year.

“Expectations aren’t a bad thing. They are actually a positive indicator,” White says.

“Luck doesn’t play its part. It’s swings and roundabouts, and you will get good calls and bad calls.

“In this game you need to stay healthy.

“If we are relatively injury free and get into the top four come September then we have a chance.

“Every team in the NRL is striving to do that and we are no different.

“They might not articulate but they are saying it.

“Our members want to know we are working hard to win premierships.

“There’s an accountability that comes with wearing this jersey and that drives this performance.”

White signs several more autographs and soon exits to make a simple drive home that he now appreciates as a luxury.