The call that saved Mark Eustice from mental health, drug hell

AT the depths of Mark Eustice’s addiction he needed four lines of coke just to start the day and binged on drugs with Finks bikies. But a call from the father of Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell saved the former footy star from an early grave. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Eustice wants to use his experience to help others. Picture: Jay Town

A FORMER AFL footballer has revealed for the first time how a phone call from the father of Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell saved him from becoming a substance abuse statistic.

Mark Eustice had been a promising young footballer for Essendon, then Richmond and Sydney in the mid-80s before undiagnosed depression set him on a dangerous path of alcoholism and drug abuse.

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But he says it was a phone call from former teammate Barry Mitchell and the support of a network of friends that saved his life.

He is now determined to ensure young stars of the game don’t follow the same path, warning that end-of-season revellery could often be the tipping point for any sports stars living with undiagnosed depression or dependency issues.

“You’ve got about 800 or 900 young players who have been caged up like lions for nine-months,” he said.

“These guys need to let their hair down but it can quickly spiral out of control.”

Eustice is an ambassador for Life Education’s Ocsober initiative but has also secured funding for a community anti-ice workshop set for launch next year.

“My addiction got so bad I’d get up in the morning and have four lines of coke for breakfast and four shots of vodka just to get me going for the day,” Eustice said.

“Then I’d go out and do two or three meetings in the morning … I was drunk. I stunk, I smoked cigarettes as well. I was high.”

Eustice said at one point he counted $15,000 of empty bags of cocaine in a draw that accounted for just six weeks of his drug use.

“I was spending thousands of dollars,” he said.

Eustice in his playing days with Richmond.

Eustice is calling on Victorians to take a break from the booze in Ocsober. Picture: Jay Town

His life spiralled out of control as the senior player at Sydney Swans battled the kind of depression that would end his career.

Out of the framework of the football club, Eustice returned to Melbourne and went on an seemingly endless bender.

“I was drinking everyday. I was taking drugs everyday. Then I started taking ice,” Eustice said.

He said he was introduced to the drug after sharing a pipe in an alleyway outside a Port Melbourne pub.

“About five minutes later I wanted to run through a brick wall. I thought ‘Geez how good is this’?”

Eustice said he also got hooked on the chase.

“I got a massive rush making the deals with drug dealers and meeting them on street corners,” he said.

“I got excited about it.”

At his worst, he said he ended up in a Finks motorcycle club for an unruly 24-hour session.

“We were doing speed and drinking, strip shows and pills and whatever,” he said.

“I was out of control.”

Eustice went on a binge in a Finks clubhouse at his lowest point. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Eustice says all this not to glorify his drug use, but to make clear the kind of blueprint that led to his darkest moments.

He says he was only weeks from death, when he finally got the call that would change his life.

Barry Mitchell offered to get him to a doctor to get the help he so desperately needed.

“I guess he caught me at a week moment,” Eustice said.

“But I said yes. I was probably only five or six weeks from death if I had of kept going. But I ended up in rehab.”

Eustice said it was only in recovery that he was finally diagnosed with bipolar and depression — a condition he’d unknowingly lived with for 25 years.

The road back wasn’t easy. But he said it was a journey made a little easier by supportive family and friends.

He remains deeply regretful that his personal journey had come at the expense of his relationship with his adult son, who he has not been in contact with for many years.

A phone call from Barry Mitchell helped Eustice find the help he needed.

“It took me eight years to recover,” he said.

“And every day was a battle. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t socialise. It was terrible.”

Eventually Eustice managed to secure a packing job at a supermarket and slowly started to reconnect with his footy mates.

Then he realised his story of recovery was something that could benefit others, particularly those who looked to be headed down the same precarious path.

He recently secured funding for an anti-ice community program he hopes to roll out in inner city Melbourne early next year.

It will be aimed at offering education and accessible support networks to local football club members who may be grappling with mental health or dependency issues.

“You’ve got to speak to somebody,” Eustice said.

“Just tell someone. Don’t be embarrassed.

“Since that day I walked out of rehabilitation, I’ve been clean and sober for 12 years. I just hope I can make a difference.”

To contact Mark direct email [e-mail]