Darcy Lussick reveals struggles after Toronto Wolfpack fail to pay players for three months
Facing eviction from his apartment, former NRL prop Darcy Lussick reveals he can’t get a job in the UK to pay his mounting bills after the Toronto Wolfpack pulled out of the English Super League.
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Darcy Lussick is about to be kicked out of his apartment.
He’s going to lose his car.
“But I don’t have any kids so it hasn’t been as hard for me as it has for other guys in the team,” Lussick said.
The former NRL star signed a life-changing four-year deal with Toronto Wolfpack, who have withdrawn from this season’s English Super League citing financial trouble.
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Problem is, none of the players or staff have been paid in three months, and those like Lussick who are on foreign passports cannot obtain visas to work to pay their bills.
Flights out of the United Kingdom back to Australia are also at ransom levels – Lussick’s Storm-bound teammate Ricky Leutele had to fork out nearly $50,000 to get his family of five from Manchester to Melbourne, as airlines insist customers must purchase business class tickets.
Technically stranded in UK. No visa so I can’t work, no help getting home to Australia as promised. About to be evicted from my house. A lot of people have it a lot worse then me but this situation has gone too far now. @TheRFL
— Darcy Lussick (@D_LUSSICK) August 10, 2020
.@TheRFL when are you going to step in and help the welfare of players who are contracted to your competition?
— Darcy Lussick (@D_LUSSICK) August 10, 2020
The highest profile Wolfpack player, Sonny Bill Williams, also paid a similar price to leave the UK and get his family to Sydney last week, after signing a deal to play with the Roosters for the rest of the year.
Lussick, a 31-year-old prop who played 118 NRL games for Manly and Parramatta, doesn’t have an Australian club offering him an escape.
“We haven’t been given visas here, I’m meant to be on a six-month visa, the government extended that but that runs out at the end of the month,” Lussick said.
“If I had a visa I could work, but I can’t get one.
“I’ve got financial commitments back home, it’s been tough, but I’m nowhere near the worst affected by this.
“I’m not down to my last dollar, but you imagine not getting paid for two weeks – we’re now on three months.
“Hopefully the RFL (Rugby Football League) step in, or Toronto realise how much the players and staff are hurting.
“We feel like we’ve been forgotten about. People probably don’t know the predicament we’re in, we just want to bring some awareness to the RFL that there are people struggling at the moment.
“It’s hard to rant and rave at the moment, because there are a lot of people around the world who are losing their jobs, but this is a little bit different.
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“Part of my contract is that the club provide me with a place to live and a car, they obviously haven’t been paid for a while.
“I’ve got the notices to get out and to hand the car back, that’s going to happen pretty soon.
“I’m trying to get back to Australia, again that’s part of my contract and I’ve been told numerous times ‘We’ll get you back to Australia’, the RFL said they’d help us Aussies get back home, but they pulled back on that.
“At the same time, it’s hard to get a flight, they’re pretty expensive.”
Lussick’s future after football is now in grave doubt.
“I have three more years after this on my contract, which at the back end of my career I was relying on coming through, so fingers crossed they get something done soon,” he said.