After losing his home, rugby league icon Ron Coote tells of the personal devastation that followed

He is one of the games’ most respected men, but when tragedy struck Ron Coote closed himself off from the outside world. Now the rugby league legend opens up on his crippling personal battle.

Rugby league legend Ron Coote speaks about his personal pain.

Rugby league legend Ron Coote has bravely opened up for the first time about the crippling personal battle that has forced one of the game’s most loved and respected men to become a recluse following the heartbreaking 2020 Black Summer bushfires.

Regarded as one of the best players to ever lace up a boot, Coote is also widely admired for his compassion and generosity, as one of the founding fathers of the Men of League charity.

Yet that hasn’t stopped Coote, 78, suffering in silence in the years since losing his home of 38 years at Lake Conjola.

“I thought I was pretty tough and I would be all right,” said Coote, the man many believe should be the game’s next Immortal.

“But unfortunately it had a big impact on me.”

Not only has Coote been unable to speak publicly until now, but the harrowing memories also left the six-time premiership-winning South Sydney and Roosters forward struggling to the point where he concedes he could not even go to the local shops to have a coffee with his wife, Robyn.

“I have never been diagnosed,” Coote revealed.

“But I didn’t talk about it to anyone, and I have been quite silent to my family about it.

“But I know I have felt ­turmoil within myself.”

Ron Coote at his rebuilt home at his Lake Conjola. Picture: Jeremy Piper

FACING THE TRAUMA

Before losing his home, Coote was a highly successful businessman who rose from very humble beginnings to at one point own a chain of McDonald’s stores.

He was also instrumental in establishing Men of League, a charity specifically designed to provide relief and support to so many struggling families over the years.

Yet the irony was that when it came to dealing with his own trauma, Coote simply closed himself off from the outside world.

In fact, it was only last week that Coote finally felt comfortable enough to step back into the public spotlight, when he gave a speech at a Family of League event at the Mollymook Golf Club.

“I am starting to get back out. I am talking to people, which I wasn’t doing,” Coote said. “I kept to myself and didn’t talk.

“My wife would say, ‘Come on, come and talk to people’. She would try and get me to sit in places in town and sit down in the shops or have a coffee.

“But it is just one of those things. Time heals all wounds, they say. And I think it does.

“I feel all right now. I don’t have the anxiety that I did have. I still have some occasions. But, anyway, I am going to have to put up with that.

“I am starting to have a few jokes with people and things like that, which I didn’t do for a while.

“I went to the Family of League golf day last week and I made a little speech, which was good. I got up and spoke in front of people, which I hadn’t done for two or three years.

“I used to do it a lot, but I haven’t done it for a while.

“It felt good. I handled it all right. That was the only reason I haven’t been speaking, because I thought I would blow up or lose my way.”

Ron Coote after the bushfires destroyed his home. Picture: Channel 9/9News

Ron Coote inspects the devastating damage. Picture: Channel 9/9News

FIGHTING A LOSING BATTLE

Coote has since rebuilt a new home after moving back in last Christmas.

But nothing will ever take away those awful memories of the day where he stood there with his son-in-law and grandson fighting a raging fire in howling 50-knot winds with a garden hose. His great mate Bobby McCarthy was visiting at the time and had taken their wives and Coote’s two daughters down to the lake to try and get them to safety.

“I had my son-in-law and grandson helping me,” Coote said.

“It brought tears to my eyes when I looked at my house burning.

“I said to them, ‘Come on boys, let’s call it quits here. We are not going to win’. So we just let it burn.

“We had a lot of pride building this house and all the gardens were finished and pruned and we had a lot of beautiful flowers.

“And to see them all go … the whole thing just went. We just finished up with a smoky, smouldering wreck.”

Ron Coote (L) and Bob McCarthy.

IMPACT ON FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Coote said a big part of his torment related to how it affected his family and friends.

For instance, McCarthy’s wife Judy can no longer visit the property due to her own personal trauma.

“I have thought about it on many occasions and thought about my kids and my grandkids and how terrible it must have been for them,” Coote continued.

“And it had a real impact on Judy.

“She won’t come near the place again. We are really good friends. We had been ­really close for many, many years.

“And it is just too much for her now.”

McCarthy added: “When we got down (to the lake) the fire was already there and we couldn’t go back.

“So we were on the pontoon but it just came that quick that we couldn’t stand there because we would have got fried. So we jumped in the lake.

“Judy’s hair was wet but it was still catching on fire. And mine was wet but still catching on fire with all the embers that were flying at you.

“The trees were falling down … so I couldn’t go back. Then the boat turned up about 40 minutes later and the jet ski.

“But we couldn’t hang around because all the embers were landing on his fuel tank on the jet ski and he was worried about it blowing up.

“Ron tried to put the fire out. He had taken heaps of precautions if there was a fire … but once the power went out it wasn’t worth two bob.

“It was sad. But there were a lot of people worse off. A lot of people didn’t come back.”

Ron Coote is one of the greatest rugby league players of all time.

‘I AM GETTING BETTER’

It’s been a long road back, but Coote is finally feeling comfortable to talk about what he has been through.

“I didn’t sort of dream about the fires or anything like that,” Coote explained.

“But I just felt tight inside about what happened to us with the fire coming through and then just seeing it take the house.

“I think I am getting better, but I think I had a psychological problem when the fires came through.

“I couldn’t do things I used to do. Your brain didn’t work as good.

“You know, I was a businessman and I sort-of lost interest in that.

“Not lost interest, but I lost the ability that I had to be able to weigh things up and all that sort of stuff. It had an impact on me.

“I don’t know what you say or how it happened, but it did. I think I lost it a bit.

“I am still trying to work it out and get it back. But I am not sure it is ever going to come back.”

LOSING A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES

Coote has also privately been gutted at the loss of a lifetime of wonderful memories.

“I had all my football memorabilia and my clothes and Robyn’s clothes and all your family photos and all that,” he explained.

“I have been lucky that a lot of people have sent me photos to replace mine.

“I am probably looking to get some more if I can because I love that sort of stuff.”

Originally published as After losing his home, rugby league icon Ron Coote tells of the personal devastation that followed