Russell Packer seeks redemption as a role model — if NRL allows
THE AUSTRALIAN SEPTEMBER 20, 2014 12:00AM
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Brent Read
Senior Sports Writer
Sydney
IGNORE for a moment the coaches and officials who may have something to gain by recruiting a player with Russell Packer’s unquestionable talent.
Instead, listen to the judge who sentenced Packer to 12 months’ jail for an attack he himself described as cowardly and reprehensible.
The same judge who claimed Packer could become a role model and ambassador for all athletes on his exit from prison.
“I also recognise there is attached considerable ignominy attaching to his fall,” judge Chris Hoy said in April this year.
“A high-profile sportsman and now a high-profile offender. Sadly it comes with the territory in whatever field — sport, politics, business, entertainment and media.
“With the greatest respect, there is nothing exceptional about the present case. Whatever the result may be, Mr Packer now has an opportunity to be a greater role model.
“He can now be an ambassador for other sportsmen and young people who are challenged by the ravages of alcohol and substance abuse. He can demonstrate his rehabilitation and reform and I would hope re-establish himself not only with his sporting endeavours but as a true leader in our community.
“That is in his hands, and how he responds to those challenges.”
Packer still has more than three months to serve before he is eligible for parole. As it stands, he spends his days and nights behind bars, locked away from his wife, Lara, and their young children, paying a hefty price for a moment of alcohol-fuelled violence that will shadow him for the rest of his life.
Yet Packer is also being wooed by rugby league royalty despite the distinct possibility the NRL will forbid him from returning to the game when his prison term comes to an end in January.
The natural urge is to ask why? Why would the likes of Wayne Bennett and Ivan Cleary pursue Packer with such vigour, given his recent past?
The answer goes beyond talent alone. Sure, Packer can play, but those who know him see an opportunity for redemption for an athlete whose past is disturbing even by rugby league’s remarkable standards.
“We like what he brings on the field,” Bennett said. “That’s why we’re all chasing him. He will have to win everybody’s confidence back. No matter what club he goes to, there will obviously be a lot of rules around his behaviour.
“But I don’t fear for that with him because he is not a mug. This guy is not someone who doesn’t get it. He gets it. His demon is always going to be the alcohol.
“He has been alcohol-free for 12 months when he gets out of jail. Hopefully it gives him the courage to go on and remain in that state because it is obviously the thing that brought him undone.”
Packer’s story beggars belief. In his appeal, the District Court of NSW heard evidence that he was brought up in a small town on the North Island of New Zealand where his mother and father had difficulties due to mental illness and substance abuse.
He was surrounded by violence, abuse, threats and aggression. There was also alcohol. Lots of it. By the age of 12, Packer was consuming 18 cans in a session as well as bourbon.
Somehow, despite the insurmountable odds, he was a contender for dux of his high school and managed to forge a rugby league career and a loving relationship.
Alcohol, however, continued to shadow him. At the end of last season, his life having descended into a “dark and self-destructive phase due to injuries and emotional difficulties”, Packer and his young family made the decision to escape their past.
He, Lara and two children packed up and left New Zealand to link with Bennett at Newcastle.
“He came to the Knights because he wanted to play with me,” Bennett said. “He stipulated the condition that he wanted to play under (me). He thought I could help his game, to get him to the level he knew he hadn’t been playing at.
“He knew he had an ordinary season that year prior to coming to the Knights. I was keen to do that, I wanted to do that.
“I saw him as a guy who hadn’t achieved as much as he could in the game, like I saw in Michael Weyman when I went to the Dragons.
“So that still hasn’t been fulfilled, that part of me and that part of him.”
Bennett’s knowledge of Packer is limited. The pair met in person only once — over breakfast prior to the start of Newcastle’s pre-season training. It was enough for Bennett to realise there was more to Packer than meets the eye.
“It’s a bit like when he went to prison,” Bennett said. “He told me everyone asked him what Wayne Bennett was like. He told them ‘I don’t know’. He said: ‘I only had a breakfast with him one morning.’
“I am the same. There is not a lot of detail I can tell you about Russell. We both went to breakfast one morning in Newcastle and I didn’t see him after that.
“I saw him the day that the incident went before the court but that’s as much as we have had to do with each other, other than a few conversations since he has been in jail.
“I like him. He is a man. I was looking forward to working with him. He was easy to communicate with and knows what he is about.”
Unfortunately, their working relationship never got off the ground. Packer made the mistake of catching up with some old friends and letting alcohol back into his life.
An incident outside a hotel in Sydney’s CBD ended with Packer stomping on a man’s face. The details were disturbing. Packer’s retaliation was excessive according to Hoy.
However, as critical as he was of Packer, Hoy also saw the good in the 24-year-old, lauding the way he cherished his relationship with his wife and children.
He also made it clear that out of the darkness, an opportunity has arisen. As part of his incarceration, Packer has been forced to undergo rehabilitation and complete courses, including a young offenders program.
“I have visited him on a number of occasions, I speak to him weekly. I see the remorse and hear the remorse in him,” former Newcastle recruitment manager Peter Mulholland said.
“I have seen all sides of Russell. I saw him as a 15-year-old kid when I tried to sign him and he was rough. (Former Canberra forward) David Lomax recommended him to me at 15 when he was playing with the Central Vipers.
“I chased him down and other clubs did the same. He is a wonderful dad and I have seen that with his wife and kids the whole way through.
“You don’t get that support and ongoing support from an intelligent and highly respected family like the one Lara comes from if you’re not a good person, if you’re not a good husband, if you’re not a good dad.
“He is inherently a very, very, very good person. I don’t care where he goes as long as he goes as the person he can be. That’s what he is about. This is not about Russell Packer a player.
“This is about Russell Packer a human being, a person who has made a mistake, that has worked hard to correct the demons in his life and has done it away from a loving wife and two beautiful kids.”
When Packer does leave prison, there will be hurdles to jump. He could be deported by the Immigration Department. The NRL is likely to step in, with the distinct possibility he will be banned for a further 12 months. Bennett is among those who believe that may be too onerous.
Packer has already paid a huge price by being locked up, cut off from his family and football. It raises the spectre of being punished twice for the same incident. Those who know Packer say he is committed to turning his life around.
“He is employable, he should be allowed to get on with his life,” Bennett said. “He should be able to get on with his career. The other thing with these guys is they only have a short time in their life to pursue their careers. It doesn’t go on for 50 years this career. It will go on for a decade at most.”
The NRL will make the final call. Perhaps they should take heed of Hoy, who made it clear he had no desire to take away Packer’s opportunity to earn a living because he saw a rare opportunity in the Test forward.
“I made some comments there about an opportunity for you to be a greater role model,” he said. “I emphasise that I see that potential in you, sir, from what I have read, what I have seen, aside from all these matters. It is a matter for you whether you can carry that out.
“Do you understand that?”
Packer replied: “Yeah I understand.”
He’s hoping the NRL does as well.
