Banned Cowboys player Robert Lui just wants to get back on the field

BANNED from football because of domestic violence, Robert Lui wants to return to rugby league, writes

THERE are no winners in the tangled and complex story of Robert Lui, the troubled footballer who was banned from playing for a domestic violence assault on his partner.

Except perhaps for the young and impressionable inmates at Townsville's Cleveland Youth Detention Centre, most of whom are behind bars for alcohol-related or break-and-enter offences.

It is far too early to tell - and the proof may or may not be in the pudding - but Lui's regular visits behind prison walls could also have been the tonic for him to turn his life around.

"It could have been me there, behind bars in jail," Lui told The Courier-Mail this week.

"All I can do is tell the guys in the juvenile centre my story about alcohol and what has gone wrong in my life.

"It was hard for me but it felt good getting it all out and sharing stories. I can see the difference when I walk in there - their eyes light up and it puts a smile on their faces.

"It's sad to see young boys like that making one bad decision and ending up there for a couple of years.

"It can be pretty scary going in there, but it is good I can do stuff like this and help out how I can."

As a journalist at The Courier-Mail for nearly two decades, the Lui story and all its machinations has been one of the most challenging I have had to write.

If you sit down with Lui, as I did for an hour in Townsville this week, it is hard not to be impressed by the 22-year-old's polite demeanour and the apparent optimism and enthusiasm he has for trying to better himself after the huge wrongs of his past.

But by the same token, this is a man who admitted to violently attacking Taleah Backo, the mother of his young son, after the Wests Tigers' Mad Monday celebrations last year.

The story gets even more tricky when you consider Lui and Backo are, for all intents and purposes, back together as a couple and she is supporting him and his bid to play football again.

There was an extremely complex background to the court case and the entire incident was deeply confronting and tangled.

Lui, a Torres Strait Islander who has seven siblings, now seems to be focusing on going back to basics and one undisputed fact is that many of those who have met him in the past six months have only had good things to say.

Andrew Ross, a sport and recreation officer at Cleveland Detention Centre, penned a letter to the Cowboys after one of Lui's jailhouse visits.

"I was impressed with the things Robert had to say and how well he got along and shared with the boys here," Ross wrote.

"I sensed (he) really enjoyed coming in to spend time with our young people to discuss how drugs and alcohol can impact on sportspeople."

For his part, Lui says he is working towards redemption for his sins.

But he is quick to concede there will always be people who will probably never accept him.

"I walk around and I know there are people talking and looking at me and saying things about me," Lui said.

"After what happened, I just wanted to stay in my shell forever.

"But the club (the North Queensland Cowboys) has really looked after me and we made some plans.

"I know in myself I am a good bloke. If the Cowboys didn't see a good side to me I don't think they would have kept me.

"If there has been any good thing to come of it, it has been that I've got to do a lot of school visits and spend a lot of time with young kids who want to be footy players.

"You go to these little country towns, like Cloncurry, where there is two schools and the kids just want to pass the ball and run around.

"If I do play in the NRL, I will still do all these school visits because it is something I really enjoy."

While Cowboys officials are deeply unhappy at the way league bosses have handled the Lui issue, the man himself says he had no problem accepting his initial one-year ban from the game.

But he is desperate to get back on the field and says regular counselling sessions with Townsville psychologist Jo Lukins have helped his state of mind.

"Seeing Jo really helps me out and when I talk to her it feels good because I let everything out," Lui said. "We talk about life and she really listens. When she talks to me I can see it in her eyes that she really wants to help me.

"It will be a bonus when I can play footy again because I am doing good things away from footy. The NRL had to make a choice, they have got their brand to look after and I copped my ban.

"But at the end of the day I am still here and I am going to try to come back and play footy. I'd be ready to go tomorrow if I got a chance but I am just taking it day by day and week by week. I would love to play any footy - park footy, Queensland Cup or in the NRL."

Cowboys chief executive Peter Jourdain said Lui had done everything asked of him and the punishment - from the court which slapped him with a good behaviour bond and from the league which has so far banned him from playing - was sufficient.

"Realistically, sport and rugby league have always been seen as a mechanism to help young guys who have the tendency to go off track," Jourdain said.

"That sort of philosophy seems to have been lost in this case.

"From my view, Rob had taken responsibility for what has happened in the past and everything he has done this year since joining the Cowboys has been exemplary," he said.

Cowboys teammate Matt Bowen, now one of the game's senior figures, concurred.

"I can't say much about what he did or didn't do but he is a rugby league player and I think it's important that he be allowed to do his job," Bowen said.

"Hopefully he can be allowed to come back to football some time soon."

Decision on Lui ban next week

THE Australian Rugby League Commission has deferred a decision on whether to allow banned Robert Lui to play in the NRL again this season.

Lui met ARLC interim chief executive Shane Mattiske last night but a decision on whether to overturn his one-year playing ban will not be made until next week.

"They have listened to our argument but I have no feeling for what the outcome might be," Cowboys chief executive Peter Jourdain said.