Brenko Lee reveals how a family tragedy and constant failure almost saw him quit NRL
Rugby league loves a resurrection story, and few comebacks can rival the cellar to the penthouse progression that has been the past twelve months of Brenko Lee’s career.
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Brenko Lee was a broken man.
Just 12 months ago, he was ready to join the workforce. The Titans had moved him on. His NRL career in tatters, Lee sought a lifeline with a shock defection to rugby union, but after two disastrous weeks training at the Melbourne Rebels, Lee walked out, literally in tears as his sporting world caved in.
Yet here he is, ready to run out in his maiden NRL grand-final appearance for the Storm in Sunday night‘s decider against Penrith at ANZ Stadium.
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As redemption stories go, few can match the rags-to-riches resurrection of Lee, who is 80 tantalising minutes away from a premiership ring after three failed stints at Canberra, Canterbury and the Titans has led to his head-spinning breakthrough at the Storm.
“If you told me I would have been in a grand final, I would have asked what you are smoking because I didn’t think it was possible,” said Lee, who plays his 67th NRL game in the 2020 decider.
“I was close to pulling the pin completely.
“Coming to the Storm has been a life-changing experience mentally and physically.
“I nearly gave it away after the Titans told me it was best for us to part ways and go in a different direction. I hold no grudges against anyone. They finished last and some guys had to go.”
Believing his NRL career was in the trash can, Lee found his way to another Melbourne sporting club - rugby’s Rebels. His code defection was a debacle.
“After two weeks of trying union, I didn’t understand the sport and felt useless,” he recalls.
“After every training session, I would go home and be in tears at how useless I felt. I was so uncoordinated, I didn’t know how to place the ball back and kept giving away penalties in opposed sessions.
“I was like, ‘Man, what am I doing?’ That was a blow to me.
“I thought maybe I should work, so I went back to Logan (in Brisbane).”
Then came the Sliding Doors moment. His former assistant coach at the Titans, Craig Hodges, had taken charge of Intrust Super Cup side Easts Tigers. Perhaps more importantly, the Tigers had feeder-club ties with the Storm, putting him on the doorstep of the NRL’s best club of the past decade.
“Craig knew me from the Titans and when he went to coach the Tigers, his call to me changed my life,” Lee said.
With Storm and Origin star Will Chambers having left the club over summer, Melbourne were on the lookout for centres. Storm recruitment chief Paul Bunn called Hodges about the hulking Lee. There was a ray of hope.
“We spoke to his Tigers coach and Craig Hodges said he‘s rough around the edges but he is a good person,” Bunn said.
“We held off for a while, then decided let‘s give him a train-and-trial contract and make Brenko work for it.
“The moment we met Brenko, we felt he had matured enough. He realised it was the last-chance saloon.”
Kicked into gear by Melbourne‘s relentless approach to training, Lee has gone onto play 13 games this season. He has produced the most consistent football of his erratic career and has rocketed into contention for his Queensland Origin debut in a fortnight in the wake of the Maroons’ backline injury crisis.
Aside from not wanting to let down Storm coach Craig Bellamy, there is another driving force for Lee.
If he triumphs on Sunday night, he will dedicate his premiership ring to his grandmother Loyla, who died last year after a long battle with diabetes, capping a horror 2019 season for the 25-year-old Logan Brothers junior.
His aunty, the mother of Newcastle winger Edrick Lee, his cousin, also passed away in the lead-up to Melbourne‘s preliminary final defeat of Canberra last week.
“My weight blew out to about 111kg and I was super unfit last year. I had some time off playing because my nan had passed away,” he said.
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“She was my best mate and I took it pretty hard.
“I was at rock bottom then.
“My nan was a diehard Bulldogs fan. When I moved to Canterbury, I lived with her, she was on dialysis and she had to go to hospital Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. If we played on Saturdays, she would miss her appointments to come to my games and feel really sick the next day and really run down.
“She was on pills and injections, she would have insulin. I remember coming back after a hard day of Bulldogs training and she would be calling me upstairs and I would have to get her pills ready.
“I took it tough when she passed away and every game I play now I just remember her saying she wishes I could get the best out of myself because she could see how much talent I’ve got.
“Coming here I wish she was still alive to see what I am achieving now.”
Lee has a tough assignment marking Penrith sensation Steve Crichton in the grand final, but his move to Melbourne has given him a tougher mental edge.
“I wasn’t in a good frame of mind and coming here was the fresh air I needed,” he said.
“‘Bellyache’ showed me tough love and he reminded me how good I could be and that I could be at my best if I trained hard.
“I have done everything at 100 per cent on the training paddock.
“Coming the Storm trained my mindset straight away, if you want to perform on a Sunday you have to train on a Monday.
“You can‘t think you will bluff your way through a game, it just doesn’t happen like that. Now, with my mindset, come warm up I’m ready to rock and roll.
“The rest is history. At 7.30pm on Sunday I will be in a grand final.”