Source: Radio New Zealand
Brandon Smith says is sobriety is the “best investment in my life I have ever made”. Will Palmer / www.photosport.nz
Kiwi rugby league player Brandon Smith says he has spent a month in rehab addressing his addictions to alcohol and gambling.
Speaking on The Bye Round podcast on Thursday, Smith said he had now been alcohol-free for 105 days.
“It’s the best investment in my life I have ever made,” Smith said.
Smith is currently facing drug dealing and gambling charges in a Queensland court.
“I went on a four week holiday at a rehab facility”, Smith told the podcast. “It’s something I couldn’t more highly recommend for people who are dealing with issues. Mine was alcohol and mental health, and abuse of pretty much every nature.
“Throughout the last five years of my career.. I had this identity as a party boy.. and I played up to that…
“When I came out of that facility, the whole thing was about re-identifying myself as a professional athlete. I’m not Brandon Smith, the party boy, I’m Brandon Smith, the rugby league player.”
Smith said it was his decision to go into rehab, but his South Sydney club had been supportive.
“For so long I enjoyed the rugby league and party life, but I’m a little bit allergic to alcohol now,’ Smith said. “I’m doing everything I can to stay on the straight and narrow. I attend AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings and GA (Gamblers Anonymous) meetings. I do everything I can to just stay on this path.
“The life I am living right now is so much better than the life I was living this last couple of years.
“Since I’ve left (rehab), I’ve gone to at least three team functions where all the boys were having a fun time. But I managed to do it without alcohol…. I’m still an annoying larrikin, a pest of a bloke. I didn’t need alcohol to do all that. It was refreshing to know I could do it without alcohol.”
Brandon Smith celebrates with Kiwis fans after the team’s win over Australia at the then-Mt Smart Stadium in 2022. Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Smith said he was continuing to have regular meetings with a psychologist.
He said he met a lot of great people at the rehab facility where he was only allowed access to his phone for 20 minutes a day.
He said he had been trying to focus on more healthy activities. For example, he was watching the sunrise every morning.
Smith has resumed training and said he now had no excuse not to be at his best on the field. “I could show up on Monday after a big weekend where I had 20 beers and so I understand why I feel like shit. Now I have a lot of ownership of my own performance because I’m doing all the right things.”
Smith said he hoped to rekindle the love he had for rugby league. “I’d be f…ed if I wasn’t a NRL player, it was what I was brought on earth to do!”
“I’ve had my struggles and I’m going to continue to have them, it’s never going to be smooth sailing… but I’m on the right trajectory.”
Smith did not refer directly to his criminal charges but in November, his lawyer said he would plead not guilty.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
