Best That Never Was: The Sunday Telegraph rugby league series

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. See The Sunday Telegraph’s full series profiling rugby league players whose careers ended all too soon.

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.

For many it was injuries which cruelled their hopes and dreams. For others, more personal issues took a toll.

See The Sunday Telegraph’s full series profiling rugby league players whose careers ended all too soon.

PART 1 KYLE STANLEY: He signed his first contract at 15 and had long been earmarked as a rugby league superstar. But Kyle Stanley’s body could not sustain the life of a professional athlete and when it all came crashing down the teen prodigy didn’t know he was.

PART 2 TONY CAINE: Twelve years on, the photo of Tony Caine’s right shinbone, inexplicably bent and curled around the falling right shoulder of an opposition player, remains one of the sport’s most graphic images. That was the night Caine made his debut. It was also the night his world came crashing down.

PART 3 JHARAL YOW YEH: The former international winger had avoided a foot amputation, beaten a painkiller addiction, and battled mental demons so severe he’d once refused to leave his hospital room. But in 2014 Jharal Yow Yeh knew it was over.

PART 4 TROY ROBINSON: Troy Robinson was once counted as one of the top halfback prospects in rugby league. Sixteen years after it all ended, he’s still haunted by the reckless decisions that finished his career.

PART 5 ADAM RITSON: 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 - players throwing their careers away.

PART 6 GREG WADDELL: Greg Waddell was touted as the best junior footballer scouts had ever seen. Better than Greg Inglis, Cameron Smith and Israel Folau. But the Penrith prodigy never played an NRL match.

PART 7 YILEEN ‘BUDDY’ GORDON: Yileen ‘Buddy’ Gordon was supposed to help rebuild the Rabbitohs. Fourteen years later, and after a run-in with Phil Gould and a school visit shocker, he’s finally returned to Redfern.

PART 8 JOHN ROWBOTHAM: John Rowbotham should have been a household NRL name up there with Smith, Thurston and Inglis. But a horrific injury that went untreated ruined his career before it began and he became hip hop artist Johnny Row instead.

PART 9 TIM MOLTZEN: A series of horror injuries destroyed Tim Moltzen’s career way too early. But that pain paled in comparison to how he felt when the NRL uninvited him from the retiree parade on grand final day for reasons that still leaves the former Tiger shaking his head.

PART 10 PAT O’HANLON: Pat O’Hanlon still walks with a limp, pain medication is a constant and he still needs a hip replacement and ankle fusion. The 27-year-old takes us back to the horror injury which ended his NRL career all too soon.

PART 11 STEVE DRESLER: When Steve Dresler came to Sydney he moved in with Reed Mahoney and Dylan Brown. But while the Eels young guns have kicked off their NRL careers, his was over before it began. Talking of that time, Dresler says he’d ‘go to bed crying’.

PART 12 WILLIE LEYSHON: Willie Leyshon’s injury history reads like a chapter ripped from a hospital ward report. It ruined a promising NRL career that ended at age 26 after stints with the Bears, Storm and Eels. But also helped prepare Leyshon for the battle of his life.

PART 13 CHRIS GUIDER: Chris Guider was the best player at the Dragons in the 1980s - playing in three grand finals in one day - before quitting rugby league at the peak of his career to join Scientology. That was the moment his dream life turned into a nightmare.