Mat Rogers discusses the $1 deal he signed for the Gold Coast Titans for 2011 NRL season
In 2011 then Gold Coast Titans coach John Cartwright put out an SOS to retired dual-code legend Mat Rogers, signing a stunning $1 one-year deal. BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE INCREDIBLE DEAL
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IF not for his foray into reality television, Mat Rogers says he never would have put pen to paper for his book.
The former NRL star has revealed it was his two appearances of Australian Survivor that proved the catalyst for the A Father’s Son creation.
The 46-year-old already had a stellar resume behind him prior to his first stint on the show, playing 200 NRL games for the Gold Coast Titans and Cronulla Sharks as well as representing the Wallabies on 45 occasions in rugby union.
But his time on Survivor’s Champions vs Contenders and All Stars seasons widened his audience and brought in a new demographic that wanted to get to know the man behind The Godfather.
And Rogers declared he would not rule out another run at becoming Australia’s Sole Survivor.
“I’d consider it of course, it’s a really fun game. As long as you don’t mind getting a bit hungry and a bit cold, it’s unreal,” Rogers, who released his book ‘A Father’s Son this week, said.
“It’s just fun, and the thing that makes it fun is that you get to get away from the world. It’s not sitting there on your phone, that’s what I loved about it.
“You get away from the business of that world and you’re in the wilderness. What Survivor did is show me to a different demographic, so people knew me as Mat, not the footballer.
“If I didn’t do Survivor I don’t think this book would’ve happened.”
For Rogers retirement from professional sport came easier than it does for some.
When he pulled the pin on his career he was content with what he had achieved and knew he was ready to hang up the boots.
He completely separated himself from the code, not watching a game for some time.
That is until then Titans coach John Cartwright put in a call to his former marquee man which drew him out for one final, yet ill-fated, appearance in 2011.
“What happened was Carty said to me when I didn’t want to play ‘can I register you for a dollar for next year’,” Rogers said.
“I said you can but don’t ring unless you’re desperate.
“To be honest I wasn’t following the team at that time, when he called the first words I said were ‘you guys are strugglingaren’t you?’
“He said he didn’t need me to play, he needed me around the boys, but I said if I’m coming back I’m going to play. I broke my foot with basically the first touch of the ball.
“It was a bit disappointing because I would’ve loved to have helped the boys off the bottom of the ladder, but I played thatgame then started off into real retirement and I don’t think I watched many games for a while.”
As his book will attest to, Rogers’s retirement from rugby’s upper echelon has hardly been a relaxing one.
Between his charity, media commitments and now athlete agency he has a schedule that has never let him sit and dwell on whathe used to have in his physical prime.
Sentenced to juvenile detention: Rogers’ sliding doors moment
Mat Rogers thought he was going to die and has revealed the fear he would not be there for his kids was just as crippling as his physical pain.
The former Gold Coast Titans star has opened up about secretly living with an autoimmune disease for the past few years.
Labelled serongegative inflammatory arthritis, it began to attack his body earlier this year.
From mild shoulder pain to suddenly feeling like all of his joints were under fire, Rogers feared the worst.
Had he hugged his children for the final time? Would his death trigger the same suffering he felt after the loss of his own parents?
That fear proved as painful as the condition ravaging his body.
“I thought I was going to die. I literally got a condition where my immune system started attacking my joints and I was just like an old man,” Rogers said.
“It started out rather mild in my shoulder then it sort of riddled my body. I thought this was it, I thought I had some sort of blood cancer.
“It certainly was a very quiet time of reflection when I was going through that with my kids. “My mum was my age when she died and given what it did to us I was really worried.
“I was just worried what not being here would mean to (my kids). It wasn’t a fun time.”
Rogers’ revelation comes in the lead up to the official launch ‘A Father’s Son’, a book which he hopes sheds a light on the man behind the dual-code rugby legend.
Between its pages Rogers unveils “a feel good story of overcoming tough times in life”, extensively touching on his tumultuous upbringing and relationship with his father.
While today the public sees a rugby legend who reached the pinnacles of his field, going on to found the 4 ASD Kids charity, the man himself reveals such a life was never on the cards from a young age.
Growing up in Caringbah, the son of former Kangaroos captain Steve Rogers speaks of how his early teenage years were marred by trouble as he faced a stint on the wrong side of the law.
While he has saved exactly where his life was headed and for what reason for his tell-all book, Rogers provided some insight on the turmoil that would have paved the way for a very different life to the one he has lived.
“I’ll tell you, at the age of 13 I was not going to be footballer. Where my life was headed and what I was doing I was in a pretty dark way, and was grateful an opportunity came my way that allowed me to step back into that world,” Rogers said.
“I was running with the wrong crowd and in a lot of trouble and it was not looking good at all. I ended up in court and it wasn’t sending me home I’ll just say that.
“I got sentenced to juvenile detention, and my dad just asked the judge ‘can we send him to boarding school?’ Fortunately the magistrate said yes.
“I don’t really want to give too much away to be honest, the story is in the book, but it was a life changing moment.”
In many respects it has been an illuminating experience putting his life into words, according to Rogers.
Yet the most harrowing hindsight has been the relationship with his father.
Steve Rogers forged one of the all-time great rugby league careers, championing the Cronulla Sharks colours more than 200 times and creating an ever-lasting legacy in the State of Origin arena.
But beneath the surface, behind all the accolades he brought home, there were psychological demons which led to his death in 2006.
Steve’s struggles with mental illness inspired Rogers to become an advocate for suicide prevention, a space he has since stepped away from, citing how confronting the experience became to him.
Rogers said it was the chance to reflect on his relationship with his father that had even made him reconsider his own parenting style to ensure they knew if they wanted to go far in life they needed to be willing to work for it.
“I didn’t have an easy childhood, and I’ve always resented it to be honest,” Rogers said.
“People will go ‘how could you not have an easy childhood when your dad was Steve Rogers?’ It was the way my dad’s relationship was with me, it was tough.
“As a kid it was hard to get dad’s approval or to say I’m proud of you. It made me fight for it and he didn’t abuse me or anything, but he wasn’t overly present a lot of times.
“All I wanted to be was like my dad. When he would look at me with disdain or be upset with me it would cut to the core and hurt as a kid.
“I feel like the book helped me realise that it made me who I was, that constantly fighting for approval and constantly striving to be better made me who I was. Life is a competition, life is hard and I think he prepared me for it.”
A Father’s Son will be available in store from October 5.
Originally published as Mat Rogers discusses the $1 deal he signed for the Gold Coast Titans for 2011 NRL season
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