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NATHAN Stapleton arrived at Cronulla, and yesterday's induction for the first batch of the nrl's under-20 players, via a town called Deepwater, ...
Source: http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/rookies-get-a-life-lesson-they-wont-soon-forget/2007/11/16/1194766966412.html
Rookies get a life lesson they won't soon forget
Glenn Jackson
November 17, 2007
NATHAN Stapleton arrived at Cronulla, and yesterday's induction for the first batch of the NRL's under-20 players, via a town called Deepwater, an hour and a half north of Armidale. Strangely, it's not on the water - but, predictably, deep in the middle of nothingness.
"There's not much there at all," Stapleton says.
And so he has tried his luck in the deeper waters, physically and metaphorically, of Cronulla and the new Toyota Cup. The 17-year-old centre, regarded by the Sharks as one of the best prospects in their inaugural under-20 side, felt like it was his first day of school earlier this month, coming not so long after his last day of school at Southport. But it was yesterday he learned his first real lesson.
On what NRL chief executive David Gallop called a "historic day", players from four clubs - Cronulla, St George Illawarra, South Sydney and Sydney Roosters - descended on the Sydney Football Stadium to take part in an induction day designed to give them a greater understanding of what next season will bring.
It wasn't all streamers and balloons, however.
Stapleton, with the 100 or so other players, met Darren Marton, a player who had the talent of Stapleton and, like him, was set for a big career with the Sharks. Until he spiralled through heroin and ice addiction, a suicide attempt in front of his mother and sister, stints in jail and psychiatric wards and 20 years of unemployment.
The NRL allowed the Herald into the camp to listen, along with the players, to Marton's message. It was a good PR trick, with officials desperate to show how they are attempting to make role models of their up-and-coming stars, as well as set them up for life after football. But it was also confronting stuff.
Marton, who now heads the "No Way" anti-drugs campaign, began smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol at 12, starting down a path he admitted was "almost impossible" to leave.
It cost him a tour with the NSW under-15 side, of which he was captain, after his school headmaster Ted Glossop, the former St George player who coached Cronulla, caught him smoking twice in quick succession.
He left school at 15, and gradually flushed a promising rugby league career - which included junior representation at Cronulla and scholarship offers from the Dragons, Rabbitohs and Sharks - down the toilet.
"For three days, I'd be lying in bed, hands between my legs, profusely sweating, physically sick," he told the youngsters. "I was on heroin for seven years - I felt absolutely nothing for seven years. I never, ever, thought I'd come out of heroin."
He did, only to discover the thrills, but more often spills, of ice, which gave him a drug-induced psychosis that made him believe every show on television and radio and every article in the paper was about him; he even held a siege in his own house.
The shock value also came from Detective Sergeant Nigel Ryan, a veteran of 14 years with the Australian Federal Police. He told them high-profile athletes were targeted by law enforcement more than the general public.
"Playing for Australia for you guys … for us, that is like locking one of you blokes up," he said.
"The intel … we have on high-profile footballers would absolutely astound you.
"Nobody likes to see someone on a hundred grand, when they've got nothing, and they're into drugs. There's going to be people wanting to bring you down."
Whether the get-tough message, rather than the illicit drugs, is absorbed into the brains of the youngsters remains to be seen. But one thing was clear: they want their players coming out of Deepwater, not deep water.
Source: http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/rookies-get-a-life-lesson-they-wont-soon-forget/2007/11/16/1194766966412.html
Rookies get a life lesson they won't soon forget
Glenn Jackson
November 17, 2007
NATHAN Stapleton arrived at Cronulla, and yesterday's induction for the first batch of the NRL's under-20 players, via a town called Deepwater, an hour and a half north of Armidale. Strangely, it's not on the water - but, predictably, deep in the middle of nothingness.
"There's not much there at all," Stapleton says.
And so he has tried his luck in the deeper waters, physically and metaphorically, of Cronulla and the new Toyota Cup. The 17-year-old centre, regarded by the Sharks as one of the best prospects in their inaugural under-20 side, felt like it was his first day of school earlier this month, coming not so long after his last day of school at Southport. But it was yesterday he learned his first real lesson.
On what NRL chief executive David Gallop called a "historic day", players from four clubs - Cronulla, St George Illawarra, South Sydney and Sydney Roosters - descended on the Sydney Football Stadium to take part in an induction day designed to give them a greater understanding of what next season will bring.
It wasn't all streamers and balloons, however.
Stapleton, with the 100 or so other players, met Darren Marton, a player who had the talent of Stapleton and, like him, was set for a big career with the Sharks. Until he spiralled through heroin and ice addiction, a suicide attempt in front of his mother and sister, stints in jail and psychiatric wards and 20 years of unemployment.
The NRL allowed the Herald into the camp to listen, along with the players, to Marton's message. It was a good PR trick, with officials desperate to show how they are attempting to make role models of their up-and-coming stars, as well as set them up for life after football. But it was also confronting stuff.
Marton, who now heads the "No Way" anti-drugs campaign, began smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol at 12, starting down a path he admitted was "almost impossible" to leave.
It cost him a tour with the NSW under-15 side, of which he was captain, after his school headmaster Ted Glossop, the former St George player who coached Cronulla, caught him smoking twice in quick succession.
He left school at 15, and gradually flushed a promising rugby league career - which included junior representation at Cronulla and scholarship offers from the Dragons, Rabbitohs and Sharks - down the toilet.
"For three days, I'd be lying in bed, hands between my legs, profusely sweating, physically sick," he told the youngsters. "I was on heroin for seven years - I felt absolutely nothing for seven years. I never, ever, thought I'd come out of heroin."
He did, only to discover the thrills, but more often spills, of ice, which gave him a drug-induced psychosis that made him believe every show on television and radio and every article in the paper was about him; he even held a siege in his own house.
The shock value also came from Detective Sergeant Nigel Ryan, a veteran of 14 years with the Australian Federal Police. He told them high-profile athletes were targeted by law enforcement more than the general public.
"Playing for Australia for you guys … for us, that is like locking one of you blokes up," he said.
"The intel … we have on high-profile footballers would absolutely astound you.
"Nobody likes to see someone on a hundred grand, when they've got nothing, and they're into drugs. There's going to be people wanting to bring you down."
Whether the get-tough message, rather than the illicit drugs, is absorbed into the brains of the youngsters remains to be seen. But one thing was clear: they want their players coming out of Deepwater, not deep water.
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