Paul Green’s wife Amanda lauds Billy Slater’s ‘true character’ for Origin-day apology

The widow of former Queensland coach Paul Green has praised Billy Slater’s “courageous” character after revealing the Maroons coach called her on Origin game-day to apologise for comments mistakenly linked to her husband’s death.

The wife of former Queensland coach Paul Green says her “heart breaks for Billy Slater” over the Origin firestorm that prompted an extraordinary game-day apology from the Maroons mentor.

Amanda Green praised Slater’s character after the Queensland Origin coach apologised for mistakenly linking her husband’s death to the stress of coaching and not the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

Labelled a “grub” by Aaron Woods, Slater hit back at the ex-NSW prop at the official press conference for Origin II on Tuesday and as part of his riposte, he referenced the public criticism suffered by Queensland’s “last coach”.

That coach was Green, who took his life in August 2022, one year after his departure from the Queensland job led to Slater’s Origin appointment.

On the day of his 42nd birthday, Slater called a snap press conference on the morning of Origin II to publicly apologise to Amanda and the Green family for his erroneous comments.

In a statement released to this masthead following Queensland’s 26-24 defeat of NSW, Amanda Green lauded Slater’s stance and hopes the fallout can lead to greater awareness and understanding around CTE.

Amanda Green praised Billy Slater’s character after his apology. Picture: Scott Radford-Chisholm

CTE is a brain disease likely caused by repeated head injuries, causing the death of nerve cells in the brain.

“To begin with, I would like to say how very courageous it was of Billy to call me, completely unprompted, yesterday,” Ms Green said.

“My heart breaks for Billy Slater as a partner of someone who has been in his position.

“I completely understand the pressures of the role.

“It shows a lot about his true character and what a fine role model he is for young men. I commend and admire him for that.

“This statement is not about rehashing the events of yesterday.

“However, in saying that, yesterday’s commentary did highlight to me just how far we still must go in raising awareness and understanding around CTE.

“Paul was diagnosed with Stage 3 CTE. Severe CTE. He was living with a very advanced brain disease.

Picture: Billy Slater called Amanda Green unprompted to apologise. Paul Kane/Getty Images

“CTE is a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma. CTE is caused in part by repeated traumatic brain injuries.

“I now have a responsibility to use my voice to help others, to help those who have lost loved ones, those who are currently struggling themselves or those who are supporting a loved one going through this horrendous disease.

“For me, I could not live with myself if I didn’t fight for my children and their sports-loving mates.”

Ms Green appealed for the NRL and all sporting codes in Australia to do everything possible to educate people about the disease and better protect young athletes.

That includes her 13-year-old son Jed, who currently plays rugby league for Wynnum Manly, Green’s junior club, and has dreams of playing in the NRL.

“We all have a responsibility to the next generation of young athletes to continue to support research and understanding of this disease for their future brain health,” she said.

“Why aren’t we talking about this disease more?

“We are a sport-loving nation who encourage our children to play sport from a young age.

“We are also a nation that has become increasingly brave enough to talk about the mental-health problems we face.

“However, we also need to be a nation that in these conversations are also talking about a disease we now know is affecting the brain health of our past, current and future athletes.”

Amanda Green lauded Slater’s stance and hopes the fallout can lead to greater awareness and understanding around CTE. Picture Lachie Millard

In an exclusive interview with this masthead in March, Amanda spoke of her role as an ambassador for the Australian Sports Brain Bank and why she supports Green’s son playing a contact sport.

“Jed loves his sport,” Amanda said.

“He plays AFL in term one at school, rugby union in term two and league in term three, so we have to safeguard his brain health.

“At the moment, he is a member of the under-13 Wynnum Manly Seagulls and loving every minute of it.

“He has pictures of his dad and we have lots of memories of his dad around the house.

“Playing NRL is Jed’s dream, he wants to be just like his dad.”

While the past 48 hours have been emotionally challenging for the Green family, Amanda said it’s an opportunity for all Australians to understand the devastating effects of CTE.

“When we lose our ex-sportsmen though suicide, we talk about mental health and how we can do more, but it is imperative that we start including CTE in these conversations,” Ms Green said.

Amanda and Paul Green

“Because we now know that in a number of these cases CTE is the very disease taking their lives – not mental health.

“I am part of a support group who have lost loved ones to CTE. The majority of those in the group have lost loved ones through suicide and all have been diagnosed with CTE after death.

“This disease is real and it is scary.

“So please, let’s start having the conversation.

“Let’s support the amazing research Professor Michael Buckland at the Australian Sports Brain Bank is doing and together, hopefully, we can help support someone who is currently struggling and at the same time protect the brain health of our next generation.”

Queensland Origin skipper Cameron Munster, who was coached by Green, said Maroons players tried to rally in support of Slater.

“When you have someone copping what Billy did, it really hurts,” he said.

“It hurt me personally. I never tell him that, but now I’m probably telling him ... I love him.

“The players saw stuff on their phone and we just did what we could to support him because he’s our coach.”

In the wake of Queensland’s win, Slater said of the turbulent build-up: “It hasn’t influenced how I look at myself and who I am as a person.

“I’m very comfortable with who I am. I know who I am. I know who these guys are. There’s been a real togetherness about the group.”

Originally published as Paul Green’s wife Amanda lauds Billy Slater’s ‘true character’ for Origin-day apology