Lloyd Perrett’s desire for NRL clubs to have less power and younger players to have a voice

Ex-NRL player Lloyd Perrett who had a life-threatening seizure after training wants change in the NRL for future generations. He opens up on why he plans to sue Manly.

Lloyd Perrett has announced his intention to take legal action against Manly.

Despite the perception, Lloyd Perrett never wanted this to be about him.

In the days since declaring his intentions to take legal action against Manly, the focus has been fixed on his story and the water-deprived training session that led to a life-threatening seizure.

But in a wide-ranging interview with the Gold Coast Bulletin, the former Bulldogs and Sea Eagles NRL forward resolutely reinforced his desire to protect future generations who play rugby league.

He warned clubs need to have less power and younger players finding their feet in the NRL system need to be able to have a voice when training crosses the threshold from testing to dangerous.

Perrett added the deaths of Kato Ottio, who died following a suspected heat stroke while training with the Papua New Guinea national team in 2018, and Keith Titmuss in 2020, encouraged him to take legal action and make a stand.

Titmuss’ death, like Perrett’s medical episode, occurred in a Manly pre-season training, and it was later determined that he suffered exertional heat stroke.

“The reality is money’s not important … young Keith lost his life because of a similar experience physically with his body,” Perrett said.

“It’s not even just trying to get compensation for my lost career earnings, it’s also about the standard for the players.

“A big motivating factor is I just want what’s right for the players and to stop players being treated like this and to stop (clubs) having all this power over players. As a player, you never want to disappoint.

“If (they) think I’m soft, if he thinks I’m a wussy, if he thinks I can’t do things that are hard, I’m not gonna get picked.

“I’m really conscious of … the protection of young players who don’t feel like they have a voice to say something.

“There’s definitely a place in rugby league for mental resilience training, but I’d love for (clubs) to be smart about how they do it and not put players’ health at risk.”

Perrett, who played 56 games across his NRL career, drew comparison with the standards in the construction space where he now works.

“If I send one of my crew onto a high rise without a harness and he falls off, that’s my fault,” Perrett said.

“I would have to live with the fact that I sent a bloke up onto a scaffold doing some work without the proper safety measures.

“That would all fall on my shoulders, not only my shoulders but my conscience.”

Perrett reiterated that his decision to take legal action wasn’t influenced by the Jackson Topine case, and that he was reminded by his brother and manager in 2017 that legal action was an option.

He said that he had been working with his lawyers and gathering evidence for the past “seven or eight” months, adding he was cold-called by lawyers for years prior following the death of Keith Titmuss.

Legal proceedings are yet to officially commence.

“In these public forums I’m seeing people calling me soft, saying that I’m only doing it because I wasn’t a very good footballer, I’d love for those people to say it to my face,” Perrett said.

Lloyd Perrett of the Sea Eagles is tackled by the Sharks defence during the First NRL Elimination Final between the Manly Sea Eagles and the Cronulla Sharks in 2019. (AAP Image/Brendon Thorne)

“I played in the NRL and most of these people saying it didn’t, so I’m obviously better than them.”

As much as the protection of players is pivotal to Perrett’s thinking, he also yearns for an apology.

“One thing that’s massive to me, more important than anything else, more important than money, is just somebody apologising and saying ‘yeah, we did this’,” he said.

“Because I’ve been carrying this around for years feeling like I’m a failure, like it’s my fault.

“It would really free me up spiritually, I guess emotionally as well and mentally, just to know that somebody would put their hand up and say: ‘no, we should never have done that to you, we should never have done it to the team, and we didn’t think it through, but obviously you’ve suffered from it. You ended up in a coma in hospital. That was a result of our decisions and our coercion to make you do this type of training session, so we’re sorry’.

“That would mean more to me than anything, just hearing an apology and accountability.”

Perrett’s harrowing training incident occurred in 2017, he was taken to hospital in an unconscious state after collapsing on a third consecutive two-kilometre run the Manly squad had been made to undertake - with 30 second breaks, no water in between, and no warning the next was coming Perrett detailed.

He noted it happened on the first day of pre-season, and that day was usually reserved for medical screenings while the second day used for fitness testing.

Lloyd Perrett being tackled during an NRL Trial match when he played for the Sea Eagles. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

He also said players weren’t wearing any heart rate or GPS monitoring devices.

It would take him three months to return to the training track, and he collapsed again in the first session back.

“I would spew watching TV, I would get dizzy, nauseous,” he said of his recovery, noting his weight also fluctuated dramatically in the months that followed.

He said he saw psychologists, counsellors, occupational therapists and behavioural analysts regularly.

“I was seeing doctors privately outside of the football club because because of how I was feeling physically and I knew that there was something wrong with me,” Perrett added.

Close to seven years have passed since the incident, and Perrett has never been the same.

“I just don’t push myself very hard, my health is sort of beyond me. I’ve put on a lot of weight and it’s really hard to push myself, mentally I get a bit stressed and a bit scared,” he said.

“I would never be able to reach that standard of health (I was when playing nrl).

“I just had anxiety even just being in the sun, like I would get scared of getting too hot.”

Perrett said he had even tried hypnosis to overcome the mental demons that arise when pushing himself physically.

“I’ve done everything just because I don’t care if I don’t get back to the NRL, but I do care about my life and I want to be around for my kids and as healthy as possible,” he said.

Following the conclusion of his NRL career, Perrett would manage just 12 Queensland Cup games across three clubs. He has returned from “hibernation” this season to play for Helensvale in the Rugby League Gold Coast A-Grade competition.

Helensvale president Wayne Court spoke highly of what he had seen of Perrett

“He’s a deadset champion, just his experience and him helping the other guys at the club, we’re seeing a huge difference and the value from it is just unbelievable,” Court said.

“He’s all about helping others and he’s just great for the group. He comes from a great family, they’re all humble people.”

Gold Coast Titans coach Des Hasler was in charge at Manly when Keith Titmuss died, but not when Perrett’s medical episode occurred.

Perrett did however play under Hasler in his time at the Bulldogs.

Gold Coast Titans head coach Des Hasler. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

“In my experience he definitely pushes you to the limits, but I’ve always seen him adhere to the science, and he loves the science,” Perrett said.

“I’ve never seen Des push the boundaries as far as to never have water … he watches the heart rate monitors, he watches the GPS data, he doesn’t do things blindly.”

Hasler spoke at the inquest into Titmuss’ death in February and was remorseful for what occurred.

“Keith was a beautiful boy, he was much loved, very highly regarded, and very highly respected,” Hasler said at the time.

“I’m so, so sorry, I share your heartbreak, I really do.

“If I’d have known that such a tragic thing was going to happen, would I have changed parts of the training session? Probably.

“Parts of it would have been challenging … but there were also planned stoppages to give players the opportunity to recover and to rehydrate before we move to the next phase.”

Manly declined to comment on Perrett’s pending legal action when contacted, and noted the club was yet to to be officially made aware.