Life After NRL: How rugby league battler Dennis Scott landed on Foxtel’s Selling Houses Australia

In his decade in the NRL, Dennis Scott always felt like every year would be his last. But one thing scared him the most. And it has made him a national TV star.

The Broncos gear steward walked into the bowels of ANZ Stadium and found the forward sleeping on the dressing room floor.

“Hey Scooter,” he said. “Time to get up.”

The 100kg rookie opened his eyes.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“Game time,” came the reply.

Wearing oil stained stubbies and steel capped boots, Dennis Scott pulled himself from the cold concrete floor. He wasn’t sure how long he had slept but figured he had gotten an hour. It wasn’t enough. Not after an eight-hour shift of spanners and shifters, of grease and grime, but it would have to do. They boys would be here soon. Glenn Lazarus would be first. Always was. And Allan Langer would be last. Always was. They didn’t know he had a job, let alone three. And he wanted to keep it that way.

So, still alone, Scott swapped his steel caps for studs and his stubbies for football shorts. He then buried his grease caked collared shirt in the bottom of the bag and put on the training shirt he hadn’t been at home to wash.

“They must have thought I was keen,” Scott said. “Always first there. But I only got there early so I could get some sleep.’’

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Dennis Scott has come a long way from the days he was working three jobs when he started playing first grade. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

But Scott was leading a ­secret life.

“I was still working three jobs when I started playing grade,” Scott said.

“Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. I was ­upgraded to $14,000 after my debut, which wasn’t enough to live on, so I worked both before and after training. I was doing an apprenticeship as a mechanic and I had to work on game day.

“I would wake up at 4am, go to work and drive straight to the game when I finished. They would let me in early and I would sleep in the dressing room before running out to play first grade. I never expected to earn money out of it.”

Scott would also be the last to leave. Once again he would dive back into his heavily stuffed bag and swap one uniform for another. He would leave the stadium wearing his Woolworths’ clothes.

“Yeah one of the other jobs was stacking shelves,” Scott said.

Scott during his Broncos days. Picture: David Kapernick

Scott at Broncos training in 1997.

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RUGBY LEAGUE DREAM

Unlike many football players, Scott used rugby league as a way to avoid working in a mine.

“Yeah plenty of guys end up in mines when they finish but I drove down to Brisbane so I didn’t have to start in one,” Scott said.

“I grew up on a cattle property near Mackay and I would have ended up working in the local mine had I not decided to give football a go.”

Scott knew he was never going to be a star. In fact his trip to Brisbane was nothing short of a hail Mary play at becoming a footballer.

“I didn’t start playing football until I was 13,” Scott said.

“It was only because the school was short on numbers. I was just a fill in but I ended up being okay and made a rep side. I don’t know if I ever thought it was going to be a career. I went to the Broncos on a whim and a prayer. They brought me down on a trial basis. For a few trial games and a pre-season. I never expected to earn money out of it.

HARD WORK

And that’s why Scott got a job. The first of 13 he would have during his time in rugby league.

“I wasn’t on a contract and wasn’t being paid,” Scott said. I got myself a job at a finance firm in the city. I was a file runner. It wasn’t going to be a career so I got another job at Brambles Equipment and started an apprenticeship as a heavy commercial vehicle mechanic.”

Scott worked even harder at training.

“I had a work ethic bred into me by the country ethos and took that onto the field,” Scott said.

Dennis Scott is tackled by his former Broncos teammates. Picture: David Kapernick

“I was a worker. I was never destined to be a star. I knew that but what I had that some didn’t was sheer determination. I had a fear of failure so I just kept on going. I knew it took a lot of different parts to make up a football team and I was prepared to take the less glamorous roles. I was prepared to be the glue that kept the superstars together.”

And superstars there were plenty. Scott made his Broncos debut with a forward pack that included Kerrod Walters, Brad Thorn, Darren Smith, Glenn Lazarus and Shane Webcke.

“I had to keep on working when I was promoted to the full-time squad because the Broncos were paying me $60-a-week,” Scott said.

“I was living in a garage which belonged to Paul Carriage with another couple of young hopefuls. It wasn’t until 1998 that I was able to stop working. I got upgraded to $30,000. It was barely enough to live on but I knew the other jobs were holding me back. I had to go full-time if I wanted to progress as a footballer.”

Scott never played football to get rich.

“I knew I was never going to get a big deal,” Scott said. “But I didn’t care, I was living the dream.”

EVERY YEAR WAS HIS LAST

Scott was thinking about his post football career even before he played a first grade game.

“I had to,” Scott said. “I was always in the position where my career could end at any time.”

His resume will tell you he was not kidding.

Having completed his trade as a heavy vehicle mechanic, Scott went on to earn qualifications in building, journalism and real estate, all while still playing. He continued to work second jobs even after becoming a mainstay for the Bulldogs after making his Belmore switch in 1999.

“I was never going to be able to retire after footy,” Scott said.

Scott on the charge against Brisbane after switching to Canterbury. Picture: Patrick Hamilton

 “I was on about $100,000 at the Dogs for the most part and blokes like Mark O’Meley and Willie Mason were on $600,000. I always had to think about life after football. I knew it could end at any moment and prepare as best I could.

“So I always had odd jobs. I helped Steven Hughes who was doing renovations. I did some real-estate on my days off and I also wrote some articles for magazines after completing a journalism course. I think I tried so many things because I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

Scott was living the dream on the rugby league field – even without big contracts to back him up.

I WAS LOST

Scott would have been happy had he played just one NRL game — instead he played 128. His career ended in 2005 after a swan song year with the Melbourne Storm. Cue the jobs. More jobs.

“I was lost when I retired,” Scott said.

“Even though I had been thinking about it since I started playing. The NRL had all these programs but there was no good advice or help. Most of the people in Welfare were the high-profile blokes who had never had to work a day in their life. They had gone straight from big contracts into a cushy job with the NRL. The young players aren’t being given any guidance or being taught life skills.

Scott (L), pictured with Billy Slater, would end his career with a season at the Storm. Picture: Mark Evans

“I was lost and I had a trade and a degree. I can’t even imagine how it would be for the guys that always thought they were going to be stars. Nearly every footy player thinks they will end up staying in the game, either as a player, a coach, or in the media. They don’t realise there are only a limited number of jobs in rugby league and that they are reserved for the lucky few.”

Scott tried his hand at player management and then labour hire. He liked neither and threw in a promising job as a consultant to get back on the tools — but not as a mechanic.

“I went into landscaping,” Scott said. “And I loved it. That led to an opportunity to do a mature age apprenticeship as a carpenter and I jumped at it because I knew it would complement my landscaping.”

(L-R) Wendy Moore, Andrew Winter and Dennis Scott … Scott has now landed a gig on Selling Houses Australia. Picture: Tim Hunter.

THE DREAM JOB

Why? How? Who?

They were the questions many people asked when Scott was announced as the new “Charlie” on Selling House Australia.

“Don’t worry,” Scott said. “It came as a shock to me too.”

But few will be surprised that Scott beat thousands of applicants to become the landscaping expert on Foxtel’s second biggest ever show behind Game of Thrones after reading his remarkable tale.

“I sat down to check my email one afternoon and a mate in the industry sent me a link to an application for the show,” Scott said.

“It was to become the landscape expert on Selling Houses Australia. Charlie had decided to leave and his position was being advertised. Tongue in check my mate said it would be great for me because I loved to talk and loved to take the piss. But I looked at it and said ‘hell yeah’. It was right up my alley. I thought I would also be able to set an example for my daughters by having a crack at it. By showing them that you have to pursue things, even longshots. I have always been scared of becoming that bloke at the pub that says ‘It could have been me’.

Scott beat thousands of applicants to become the landscaping expert on Selling Houses Australia. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

‘So I got a mate to help me pull together an audition tape and I ended up getting a call.”

Then came the auditions. First calls, second calls, third calls …

“The last thing I had to do was something called a dynamic test,” Scott said.

“I got together with the stars of the show to do some filming. They wanted to see how I fitted in, how we would work together.”

Needless to say rugby league’s ultimate team man fitted in just fine.

“And now, here I am, four houses down and deep into filming,” Scott said.

“My dream job. I am on Foxtel’s most popular show ever — apart from Game of Thrones. It has been some journey since stacking shelves and playing footy.”

Scott may have just made himself the poster boy for NRL post career planning. He is the star he never was. And his advice to the next generation is simple.

“Work hard,” Scott said.

“Take the same work ethic you put into rugby league and apply it to everything else.”

Ex NRL star Dennis Scott on life after NRL with his wife Mia and daughters Poppy (13) and Matilda (16). Picture: Supplied

FAMILY MATTERS

The hardest part of his new life is being away from his family. Filming in NSW for the upcoming series, Scott has not seen his wife Mia or his daughters, Matilda, 16 and Poppy, 13, for eight weeks.

“It has been tough,” Scott said. “We (Scott and Mia) joke that I am married to Andrew (Winter) now because I have been living in a hotel with him for two months.”

The pair met at her 18th birthday party Scott married Mia, now a teacher’s aid, in 2000.

Originally published as Life After NRL: How rugby league battler Dennis Scott landed on Foxtel’s Selling Houses Australia