Wally Lewis: The tragic cost of a glorious rugby league career

NRL Immortal Wally Lewis said he’d do it all again even knowing the risk of brain damage. Picture: Jerad Williams

When ‘King’ Wally Lewis revealed that he had been diagnosed with dementia, he said one thing that most former footballers say in this situation: he’d do it all again even knowing the risk of brain damage.

But what about the women? Their wives or partners, the ones placing Airtags on their husbands in case they go missing again and can’t work out how to get home?

The ones toileting their 50-something-year-old husbands? How do they feel?

“Nobody asked me about that,” the wife of one former league great said. “Nobody asked me if I would do it all again, because I certainly wouldn’t.”

The wife, who remains anonymous, said she had been looking forward to a retirement of travelling and enjoying time with the family, but that was now impossible. She was now his full-time carer, like most women are with a husband with early onset dementia.

The Australian has spoken to so many women who are dipping into their superannuation and left financially crippled because their husband can’t work. There are women who have to leave the marriages of 30 years because their husbands behaviour has become intolerable – violent and manipulative.

Then there’s the wife whose once loving and devoted husband tried to kill her.

While their husbands may “do it all over again”, the fallout of living with someone with early onset dementia is a horrible, difficult, painful and grief-ridden existence.

Wally Lewis’ first match for the Brisbane Broncos against Manly Warringah in 1988. Football players are specifically exempted under state civil liability laws from suing the game over injuries sustained while playing.

What the wives and partners tell you is that they are incredibly lonely and feel forgotten.

Because their partners played football – a dangerous game – they are specifically exempted under state civil liability laws from suing the game.

The assumption is the players knowingly engaged in a dangerous sport and should face the consequences. But the question now in play is at what point did the game know that repetitive head injury was a risk factor for CTE, and as a result of that knowledge did they take appropriate steps to safeguard players?

But under current laws if a player suffers a long-term injury neither the NRL, nor clubs, can be held to account. It also means that, under the current law, the game can ignore concussion protocols, meaning former players are unable to seek a remedy in court.

This is exactly what happened to former Knights star James McManus, who failed in his attempt to sue the Newcastle Knights for $1 million for allegedly failing to follow their concussion protocols and sending him back to play while he was still concussed. McManus was forced into early retirement from concussion in 2016.

The truth or otherwise of that case could not be tested in court because the NSW Civil Liability Act provided a knockout defence for the Knights.

“The claim brought by James McManus against the Newcastle Knights, which was managed by the NRL, has been finalised with the NSW Supreme Court ordering judgment for the Knights,” an NRL statement read.

“The NRL is pleased that this long-running matter has been resolved in the Knights’ favour.

“The NRL was confident in its defence of the claim under the Civil Liability Act and we are pleased that the matter could be resolved without further cost and expense for all parties.”

Former Newcastle Knights and NSW Origin winger James McManus and wife Eshia. McManus was forced into early retirement from concussion in 2016. Picture: News Corp

It is these stark facts – that players have no workers’ compensation and no right to sue – that are likely to be the subject of specific recommendations from the Senate Inquiry into Repeated Head Injury in Contact Sport.

Following Lewis’s revelations of probable CTE on Sunday night a statement was released by the league citing an NRL study – led by Dr Andrew Gardner – as evidence of the NRL’s commitment to understanding the long-term effects of concussion on former players.

“The NRL has actively invested in the Retired Professional Rugby League Players Brain Health Study since 2019 and almost 200 retired players have been assessed by the clinic,” the statement said.

What that statement failed to mention is that the study is embroiled in controversy, and the subject of a separate, secret investigation by the Australian Rugby League Commission.

The investigation was sparked following revelations in The Weekend Australian that former players, including Newcastle hero Robbie O’Davis were not told they had brain damage. O’Davis was later diagnosed with probable CTE by Dr Rowena Mobbs.

The specific details of the Gardner investigation are under wraps, with the NRL declining to say who is leading it, what its terms of reference are, when it will report or if indeed it will be publicly released. However the NRL’s statement pre-empts the findings of that investigation and raises questions about the process.

Sheree Miller, whose husband, former Knights player, Glenn, was diagnosed with early onset-dementia, said the NRL response is ‘complete dribble’.

The NRL’s statement enraged the wives of the footballers involved in the study, including Sheree Miller, whose husband Glenn was diagnosed with early onset dementia.

“The study is not an independent study, the results are withheld from not only the players but also their families,” she said.

“There is a growing number of ex-players developing TBI as a result of repeated collisions on a rugby league field. This response from the NRL is complete dribble as far as I’m concerned!”

O‘Davis’s wife Lousie was outraged by the NRL statement.

“Unfortunately, our husbands aren’t making the NRL money anymore so they have no interest in us; we are just noise to them,” she said.

It was a sentiment echoed by Sandra Crow, whose husband Trevor has now also been diagnosed with probable CTE by Dr Mobbs.

While Lewis was at pains to say he wouldn’t sue the NRL – the AFL currently has two class actions in play against them – Crow said her financial situation has been crippled because of the cost of her husband’s care.

“I’m happy for Wally that he is financially secure enough not to have to chase any compensation,” Sandra Crow said. “For those basement dwellers like us, we struggle financially, not to mention emotionally, physically and socially as well.”

Wally Lewis was at pains to say he wouldn’t sue the NRL but he is lucky enough not to need the compensation as much as other ex-footballers. Picture: News Corp

Lynn McGregor said she too has to now work because of the bills associated with her husband’s care. McGregor’s husband Rod, who was part of the 1977 St George premiership team, has probable CTE and scans show the damage to his brain is “global”.

“He doesn’t have Alzheimer’s. He has probable CTE – dementia – his dementia is so different to old age dementia,” McGregor said.

She said she has been provided with some financial support via Men of League, now known as Family of League – but has heard nothing from them since they helped her and Rod out last year.

“I contacted the Men of League and I got a grant of $16,000, they paid our living expenses for three months, then I have not heard a thing from them,” she said. “We have used much of our super to survive.”

“It’s a scary fact. Early onset dementia is a scary horrible thing. I was living with a man who used to do everything but now barely does anything.”