Corey Norman hopes to make riches from the rag trade with his fiancee

Corey Norman isn’t just working on cleaning up his reputation and building a better future, he’s also bankrolling a new app-based fashion rental business.

From bad boy to angel. Welcome to the rugby league afterlife of former NRL star Corey Norman.

The talented footballer whose playing career in Australia was cut short is back to carve a new future – as an angel investor in the fashion industry.

Norman has bankrolled his fiancee Nicole Shiraz’s plans for an app-based business developed to capitalise on the growing trend among young females for renting clothes.

The pair’s ‘Air Closet’, launched this month, was conceived in France where they moved after Norman finished up with the St George Illawarra Dragons in 2021.

“When I retired from the NRL, it was more that I got a red line drawn straight through my name,” he said.

There had been headlines for all the wrong reasons – caught in possession of drugs in 2016, warned by police about consorting with criminals, and in 2021 breaching NSW Public Health Orders by attending an infamous Dragons house party.

Corey Norman’s NRL career suffered due to his off-field scandals. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

“The whole BBQ incident at the Dragons was probably the final straw for NRL clubs,” he said. “I was finishing up (at St George Illawarra) and shopping myself around.

“Clubs were like ‘oh, we don’t know’. I said ‘you can have me for half price’ and they were still ‘we don’t know’.

“I realised then it wasn’t about my football, it was the reputation. My time was up in the NRL and I retired.”

Not for long. He was approached by French club Toulouse and invited new girlfriend Nicole to join him.

Norman moved on to Lezignan, another French club, then had a season with the London Broncos.

Now back in Sydney, Norman is focused on making riches from the rag trade.

“When we were in France and I came up with the idea for the app, Corey was like ‘you should do it’,” Nicole said.

“We weren’t even engaged at the time, and it’s the money he’s put into this that has made it happen.

“When we first dated it was hard not to listen to outside noise about him. It did start to get to me.

“But when I really got to know Corey it was like ‘no, this is not what the outside world sees’.

“He’s the best human.”

Former NRL player Corey Norman and partner Nicole Shiraz. Pictured in Darlinghurst. Picture: Rohan Kelly.

The pair will marry in Bali in February, a small gathering of no more than 50.

According to Norman, the party boy days are behind him. So, does he have regrets?

“It’s been a good learning curve,” he said. “Playing footy, getting paid a lot of money … when you’re young and in that environment, you can forget everything else and it’s (all) about you.

“But it doesn’t just affect you, it affects your club, your teammates, your family.”

Given his time over, he would make changes.

“Of course,” he said. “If I said no to that I wouldn’t have learned from what I’ve done. But that’s life. We’re here now, that was in the past. I’ve moved on, and it’s made me a better person.”

His focus has shifted from footy to his fiancee’s business plan which includes having big brands offer clothes for rent, not outright purchase, via the platform.

“They’re starting to do it in the UK,” Nicole said. “It’s part of the bigger picture.”

So too is moving to the Gold Coast, where Norman attended Keebra Park High School on a rugby league scholarship before his debut in the NRL as a teenager, and where his mum Sandy now lives.

“I’m in a different phase of my life now, with a different mindset,” he said. “Trying to build businesses and a better future. When you’re younger you don’t think about the future.

“If I’d had this mindset when I was playing it would have been a lot different, on and off the field.”

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