PENRITH hall of fame inductee Greg Alexander has given a rare insight into the life changing impact the car crash death of his brother Ben had on him.
Then a 20-year-old Panthers young gun, Ben Alexander died on June 21, 1992, in an incident that rocked the rugby league world on a night that should have been a celebration for the Alexanders and the Penrith club.
At that time in his career, Greg had established himself as one of the biggest names in the competition after playing a key role in the Panthers first ever grand final win in 1991.
And it was that win which was being marked on the night of Bens death, with the Panthers squad handed their premiership blazers at a club function, before some of them left the club to continue their celebrations elsewhere.
Ben was one of those who left, while Greg stayed back at the club.
In a wide-ranging interview for
On the Couch with Sterlo to celebrate Alexanders induction into Penriths hall of fame, the widely respected Fox Sports NRL commentator and Panthers director opened up on the shattering experience of being informed about the car crash and revealed that 24 years on from his brothers death he still hadnt fully come to terms with it.
Id stayed at the club and Ben and a few of his mates had headed down the road to another nightclub, Alexander said.
I had someone that was on their way there or had been there came back to the club to say that there had been an accident.
I still havent (come to terms with it). Its always been a hard thing to talk about. I struggled with it for so long.
Alexander sat out most the rest of the season as the club struggled to move past the tragedy, slumping on the field from one of the frontrunners before eventually finishing just out of the finals.
The champion halfback admitted that losing his brother caused him to lose his passion for the game, playing on autocue before deciding to pack up his life and move to New Zealand as a way to help him move on.
I lost the passion to play league, I dont know how I did it for a long time, Alexander said.
It was like I was on autocue and just did what Id done for so long, but did it without passion.
That was the reason that I decided to head off to New Zealand.
He joined the Auckland Warriors for the 1995 season and had two good years there before getting an unexpected opportunity to come back and finish his career at the Panthers.
I would have loved to have been a one-club player and played with Penrith for my whole career, Alexander said.
But it just wasnt to be and at that time I needed to get as far away from what held me back and I thought I just needed a bit of clear space.
New Zealand provided it and the people in New Zealand, the Warriors, in those fledgling years were fantastic, they really were.
We had between nine and 10 players who had never played ARL or first grade football before.
There was no egos there and it was a great experience for me because these blokes wanted to learn what it was like to play in the NRL.
In the end it was Royce Simmons, a man who Alexander had played alongside at the Panthers, who brought him home after taking over as coach.
After enjoying his first two years at the Warriors, Alexander had signed a one-year extension that could have become an obstacle to his return to Penrith.
But after telling the Warriors he wished to go back to his boyhood club, his wish was granted, paving the way for three more seasons with the Panthers.
Royce was then the coach of Penrith and he said look, we need a halfback. And I said, look, Ive been here for two years, maybe its time to come home, Alexander revealed.
If I come back and have another year with Penrith thatd be great. So I approached the Warriors and they were very good about it, I said Ive got an opportunity to go home and they were good about it.
www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premie...o/news-story/564124edd76d9c7d74495ded03c13f4e
Unless you have a digital pass I don't think the interview is online.
