‘One step back for two steps forward’: Wade Lees’ wild career is on the cusp of another premiership

Wade Lees’ football career has been anything but ordinary. From a doping scandal to a near NFL career, Lees’ “unconventional path” has now brought him back to where it all began.

Wade Lees’ football path has been far from conventional.

Wade Lees’ football has always taken the “unconventional path”.

His path has winded through a doping scandal and a near NFL career.

And next week it could add another turn when Lees steps out for Murrumbeena in a Southern league grand final.

A flag would be Lees’ second in as many attempts – following last year’s Essendon District league title with Deer Park – and cap a career full of ups and downs.

Lees collected few accolades as a junior before grinding his way into Casey’s VFL program as a 20-year-old.

There, he “got a taste of VFL footy and couldn’t get enough”.

Lees was gathering momentum ahead of the 2012 season but a knee injury had him “underdone” in the weeks prior to pre-season.

Fearful of his skinfolds, Lees ordered a round of fat burning tablets from overseas.

The tablets never arrived but a call from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority did.

The product was not illegal but as a VFL-listed player, Lees’ name was flagged at customs.

Lees bursts through a tackle.

“I thought I would just do a 30 day thing of that, do my running and at least if I looked in shape I would be able to blend in rather than come back overweight,” Lees recalled.

“It had been a month or two and I hadn’t got it … I didn’t think anything of it until I got a call from customs saying they had intercepted this parcel.

“I then got a call from ASADA saying they wanted to interview me, little to my knowledge they were setting me up for my admission of guilt.

“The argument was that because I electronically purchased it, that was deemed as possession.

“I got done for attempted use and possession of a substance I never took.”

By the time the investigation began, the return to training Lees feared had already come and gone.

He was hopeful of a quick return once the investigation finished but it dragged out for seven months.

Lees missed the entirety of the 2012 season and his Casey teammates were already preparing for the next.

Lees runs Casey into attack

He demanded an answer and got it.

ASADA issued Lees an 18 month ban, adding 10 months to the eight he had already spent on the sidelines.

“Everyone was pretty shocked because just after that all the Essendon stuff happened as well,” he said.

“Then Matty Clark down at Frankston got done for a pre-workout drink.

“I think it was used as a bit of a scapegoat, they had to come out hard on someone and set a precedent.

“Casey was shocked that you could get suspended for not using, receiving or testing positive, but for ‘attempted use’.”

Lees moved to Frankston after being banned. Picture: Mark Wilson

Lees was rocked by the setback and escaped it on a European holiday.

He was unaware that adding an American leg would unlock a new door.

Lees ran into old teammate Cam Johnson who had made big strides in American football as a punter.

“He was punting for Ohio State at the time, I thought ‘f*** that’s cool, he’s punting in front of 100,000’, so I flicked him a message,” Lees said.

“I picked his brain, he told me there was a punting academy in Melbourne called Prokick Australia run by Nathan Chapman, the former Brisbane-Hawthorn player.

“I got details and the idea sparked from there.”

Lees returned to Australia with his AFL dream still intact but a switch to punting was “churning away in the background”.

He never anticipated for it to take centre stage until another VFL season and draft sped by.

“I think I was 25 at the time and I knew that was it for my (AFL) career, so I turned my focus to punting,” he said.

“I signed up to that full time, at Yarrawonga to play with the big fella, with Fev (Brendan Fevola) up there, whilst studying sports management.”

Lees loads up for UCLA.

The logistics of Lees’ move to an American college was complex after he left high school in Year 10 to pursue construction.

But, courtesy of Prokick, Lees eventually landed at the University of Maryland.

He stepped out in his first game of college football in front of a crowd that resembled a Carlton or Collingwood home game.

Lees first questioned his obsession with playing AFL before being grateful for the mistake which led him there.

“The biggest VFL game I would’ve played in front of was six or seven thousand and that was when Casey played Northern Bullants with Fev vs. Carlton,” he said.

“That was a big game but going out there (America), and even though Maryland wasn’t a big football school, I ran out in front of 60,000.

“It was a realisation: why was I so hellbent and so absorbed in the AFL dream when this lateral shift had opened up a whole new avenue.

“It was actually a bit of relief that even though that big moment had happened in my career (the doping saga) that this was just as good (as playing AFL).

“Now looking back and reflecting, the access I have to people now and teams, I would never have had that, even if I spent two or three years on an AFL list.”

Lees came to a realisation in America.

Living the life of a college punter “scratched the itch” of being a professional athlete for Lees but it was as far as he got in his career.

He fell agonisingly short earning a place on an NFL roster despite winning the interest of a six-time Superbowl winning coach.

“Scouts were coming out to watch, I think it was set for April 22 or 23 but on April 17 they closed the whole of America down for Covid,” Lees said.

“I missed out on that camp and all of my classes went online, my wife and I had to jump the UCLA fence to continue to film.

“I spoke to the Raiders, Chargers and Patriots because (Bill) Belichick (former New England coach) only looked at left footers.

“But by the time it came to go into camp, most of the teams kept their rosters as is and they didn’t do the expansion to 75, it stayed at 62 or 63.

“In that threshold where they were bringing special teams, it sort of screwed me over from the back end.

“I went for a few team visits but at the end of the year my visa ran out, my wife was pregnant and it is what it is.”

The No. 88 followed Lees to all parts of the world.

Lees doesn’t see the benefit in reflecting on his finishes in either code as a negative.

His finish in the VFL opened the door to a punting career.

His finish in punting opened the door to returning home and starting a family and business.

“It was all one step back for two steps forward,” he said.

“Yeah, maybe I could’ve made it to an AFL list, but I know I would’ve spent two years on an AFL list.

“I didn’t get there but it re-shifted my focus which has had its long-term benefits for me and I am stoked with that.

“I don’t think there’s any point reflecting on something as a negative because it won’t take you to the next step.”

When Lees returned to Melbourne, he joined Deer Park in hope of finishing his sporting career in a local footy premiership alongside friend Fevola.

Fevola left Lees before the season started at Deer Park but the premiership was lifted without the ex-AFL forward.

When retirement beckoned, another call came.

It was Murrumbeena’s captain and his old VFL teammate Jordan Pollard.

Pollard was in search of another midfielder and identified Lees as his man.

They’ll take to the field together next week in hope of leaving it with a piece of silverware.