Former NRL star Danny Wicks on why he walked away from Parramatta Eels
MONEY isn’t everything for Danny Wicks and after a turbulent NRL career marred by a jail stint on drugs charges, he’s happy out of the spotlight earning $45,000 a year.
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IT’S the last place you would expect to find an NRL star who was supposed to be playing for Parramatta for the next two years.
You drive into Yamba on NSW north coast and there is a building site just 100m from the local police station where Danny Wicks used to report two days a week while on parole.
Walk on to the site and the man who quit a $500,000 deal at the Eels is pouring concrete on the first day of his new $45,000-a-year labouring job.
The muscles he once used to punch holes in the opposition defensive line are now straining as he guides a wheelbarrow full of wet cement across a creek on an aluminium plank.
He already has blisters on both hands.
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Wicks is barely recognisable under a straw hat although he’s still wearing his old Eels training shorts.
Unbelievable. How could a recently married 30-year-old man with a young family choose this over the money and glamour of the NRL?
Especially as he had worked so hard for two years to re-establish himself after a stint in jail for drug supply, living every day, every night alongside some of the country’s most hardened criminals.
Being unhappy is what has led to poor decisions in the past
Danny Wicks 
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His view is now the Pacific Ocean instead of a 7-Eleven store on a busy Northmead road where he snuck out most nights to get his Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
THE DEPARTURE
Wicks was so desperate to get home he hired and drove his own removalist truck.
Eels teammates turned up to help load. Tim Mannah, Corey Norman, Cameron King, James Hassen, Daniel Alvaro and Coady Nelson. If only we had a photo …
“With all the boys, it only took 40 minutes and I was away,” Wicks says.
“It was very sad actually because they were great mates and I loved the boys and the coaching staff. It was just lifestyle, nothing else.
“The beaches in Sydney are nice but I’m not a fan when you have to share them with hundreds or thousands of other people.
“Up here, often the only footprints on the sand are mine. I tried fishing in the Parramatta River one day but all I got was a couple of Coke cans.
“I’ve been homesick before when I was playing in Sydney. I played in Melbourne too but didn’t last. It’s just the way I am.”
MONEY SACRIFICE
There are absolutely no regrets. “Fifty-thousand here is like $150,000 in Sydney,” he says.
“You’re not in the high tax bracket and you’re not paying $600 a week in rent.
“Then you’ve got daycare costs because we had no family in Sydney.
“If we got out for dinner you spend $100 on a babysitter. It all adds up. Tolls, travelling … Sydney just costs, costs, costs.
$50,000 here is like $150,000 in Sydney
Danny Wicks
“Here I’m living in a two-bedroom unit under my dad’s house before we buy our own home.
“We’ve got ocean views. It’s two minutes to the fishing holes. Financially we’re nearly better off.
“I don’t need a couple of hundred thousand in the bank. If the kids are happy, the missus is happy and we’ve got a few bucks put away, it’s all good.
“My little ‘holiday’ made me appreciate the smaller things in life.”
NEW JOB
The sweat is pouring down Wicks’ face. He looks like he’s 70 minutes into a tough NRL game.
His new employer, Sewell Concrete, is working on a villa complex that former surfing champ Nat Young is building as an investment.
The last time Wicks poured concrete was inside Glen Innes prison.
“They needed a pathway done,” he says, “I’d done a bit with my uncle so I volunteered. It’s probably all cracked now or in a pile of dust. I won’t be going back to check on it.”
The new job is a 7am start, like all tradies.
“I’ve got a great boss and great crew of boys,” he says.
THE DECISION
Wicks knew his time was up at Parramatta the moment he returned to training.
“I always said that if ever I was unhappy, I’d do something about it,” he says.
“Being unhappy is what has led to poor decisions in the past.
If you are unhappy about anything, don't just sit here. Do something about it. I'm now as happy as a pig in shit.
Danny Wicks
“We’d had an eight-week holiday, I got married, we had a great honeymoon and then I had to head back to training.
“I lasted four or five days. I just wasn’t happy. So I said to my missus, what do you reckon about going back home.
“I went in and saw Brad (Arthur) and told him I wanted to go.
“He wanted me to stay but he was very supportive because he knew what it meant to my family.
“What I’ve learnt is that if you’re unhappy about anything, don’t just sit there. Do something about it. I’m now as happy as a pig in shit.”
THE PRIDE
I asked Wicks if he was proud of himself. That he has come through drugs and jail.
That he came back to the toughest body-contact sport on the planet following a four-year ban.
And made it.
“I am proud, yes,” he says, “but not so much for myself but the people who stood by me. I’m proud to have them around me.
“My manager Steve Gillis. He wrote to me nearly every week. There was no financial gain for him but he kept giving me hope. All my family, all my friends. Brad Arthur. My wife. My dad.
“When I got into trouble, I’ll never forget the old man saying, ‘I was with you when you were at the top and I’ll be with you at the bottom’. And he was.”
THE FUTURE
Wicks has agreed to be captain-coach of Grafton Ghosts next season. They were beaten in the grand final a couple of months ago but he is confident of taking them all the way.
Just live life. Be happy with your family and your mates
Danny Wicks
“It’s good to put something back into the game,” he says, “to share with the young blokes what I learnt from some great coaches in the NRL.”
He’s also keen on a role in community service for the NRL or the government.
“If there is a position that becomes available … I don’t think anyone has walked the same path as I have and come out the other end. I’ve danced on both sides of the fence.
“All kids are going to stuff up. Some minor, some serious. I’d love to be in a position where I could explain that it’s not worth it. And nobody is better qualified in that area than me.”
There are no other goals than to look after wife Leona and their two-year-old son Clay and five-year-old daughter Chelsea.
“Just live life,” he says, “and be happy with your family and your mates.”
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