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Paul Whatuira on mental health watch after involvement in assault
By staff writers
October 15, 2009 Former New Zealand international and two-time NRL premiership winner Paul Whatuira is in hospital in England pending a psychiatric assessment after being held by police in connection with two assaults.

English media has reported the 28-year-old was arrested on Wednesday (EDT) after allegedly being involved in an incident in Huddersfield that left two men with serious facial injuries.

Whatuira is contracted to English Super League club Huddersfield Giants, who are coached by former St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown.

The 16-Test centre was reportedly restrained by police and taken into custody before being taken to a local hospital.

"Paul and his family have the full medical support of the club available to them at this difficult time,'' said Huddersfield Giants managing director Richard Thewlis.

"I would ask that everyone respects the importance in this instance of confidentiality and understands that the club is upholding its duty of care to provide the best possible environment to help Paul."

Whatuira played for the Warriors, Melbourne Storm, Penrith and Wests Tigers in the NRL, winning premierships with the Panthers in 2003 and the Tigers in 2005.

He was also a member of the Kiwis' victorious Tri Nations squad in 2005.

Whatuira joined Huddersfield in 2008 and has been a raging success, claiming the top try-scorer award and the coaches' player of the year last season.
 
He will probably do time for this,the poor bugger :eek:pen_mouth:
The poms come down hard on people charged with assault & being a golden gloves champion,you can imagine what the two "victims" head's look like
Best of luck Fats :pray:
 
Wow… although I've never met Paul it is seems out of character (my perceived character of the bloke anyway)...

I hope all the best to him and his family, but also those who he allegedly assaulted...
 
@Kaiser said:
Wow… although I've never met Paul it is seems out of character (my perceived character of the bloke anyway)...

I hope all the best to him and his family, but also those who he allegedly assaulted...
Click to expand...

He always came across as a mild mannered, quietly spoken person when he was at the Tigers. If he is on mental health watch as the report suggests, then he's obviously in a spot of bother, not to mention the two blokes who came off second best.
 
@tigerdre said:
He will probably do time for this,the poor bugger :eek:pen_mouth:
The poms come down hard on people charged with assault & being a golden gloves champion,you can imagine what the two "victims" head's look like
Best of luck Fats :pray:
Click to expand...

Jumping the gun a bit arent you?
At this stage its all 'alleged'.
Does seem out of character.
 
why would he be a 'poor bugger' if the allegations are correct?
 
By the sounds of it the club are going to support him through this difficult time, i for one am shocked at this news as he is not that kind of person at all and i just hope he comes out of this situation fine.

All the best fatz!
 
It is the off season and we can discuss different topics..
I read that Darius Boyd,love him or loathe him,has a problem with depression,he like many other people suffer from it and it can effect anyone,anytime personally or family and friends..
I feel for anybody in this situation and can only applaud Boyds strength in addressing the problem,it certainly wouldn't be easy admitting to it or seeking help for it..
If anybody is suffering from it or knows someone that's affected by it please seek help,there is no shame in asking for help..
I wish Darius and anyone else with this illness all the best and speedy recovery to a normal healthy life..

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :pray:
 
@Geo,yes I'm fine,I sometimes wonder if your though..

If you were being smug about my thread,then you didn't get a laugh out of me..

Note… IF you were being smug......
 
This is something I worry about especially for Farah. He has been under immense pressure for a long time over his career. Having to shoulder a lot of the burden when others have not been able to perform as expected. The cracks have really started to appear this season, and it got the better of him. When he tried to escape the pressure, he was criticised. When he tried to speak up, he was criticised. When you have things like this going on, you really need your team, your mates, your club and supporters around you, helping to get you through it.
 
It was mental health week last week, and despite the high profile cases of Boyd and Fifita being admitted to clinics suffering depression in the last few months, the NRL was totally silent on the matter.

They even have a bloody website promoting positive mental health amongst the rugby league family, and yet the couldn't even be bothered putting up an article on their own website? That's a piss poor effort.

Same as the NRL's policy on concussions. Way too soft. Players will be dying in the future because of their tardiness, but that's for another thread.

At the exact moment that a player is outed for depression there's a rallying support for them by players, officials, press etc. A few weeks later no one can be bothered to do anything, even small to help those players or the many others who suffer in silence. The NRL has role models, and should be using them for the public good rather than blowing their load over the bunnies!
 
@TrueTiger said:
@Geo,yes I'm fine,I sometimes wonder if your though..

If you were being smug about my thread,then you didn't get a laugh out of me..

Note… IF you were being smug......
Click to expand...

R U O.K. is what groups like Beyond Blue recommend people ask their workmates, family members etc if they concerned about their wellbeing. It is also something that people who use this forum should always consider before they unfairly criticise others.
 
Thank you Newtown

@TrueTiger said:
@Geo,yes I'm fine,I sometimes wonder if your though..

If you were being smug about my thread,then you didn't get a laugh out of me..

Note… IF you were being smug......
Click to expand...

Umm no..I was reminding every one that it doesn't take much to check with those around you if they are in fact OK

3 simple words R U OK…
 
@Geo. said:
Thank you Newtown

@TrueTiger said:
@Geo,yes I'm fine,I sometimes wonder if your though..

If you were being smug about my thread,then you didn't get a laugh out of me..

Note… IF you were being smug......

Umm no..I was reminding every one that it doesn't take much to check with those around you if they are in fact OK

3 simple words R U OK…
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Did sound a little smug.Give him a pass.I knew what you meant.
 
@Newtown thank you for the explanation I didn't know….
@Geo I apologise,I took it in the wrong context... :smiley:
 
It is great to see this year that Rugby League is supporting Mental Illness by discussing awareness in the community. Mental illness is a silent killer & effects nearly everyone in the community one way or another from Anxiety to Suicide.

I have suffered Mental Illness for over 20 years & this month I celebrate 8 years clean from ICE, I live with Bipolar, Lupus & Narcolepsy & I couldn't be happier at this time, 7 weeks ago I commenced my Cert IV Mental Health @ Tafe. I am finally well enough & life experienced enough to pay it forward, it’s taken a dedicated team for the past 2 years to get where I am today.

My reason for contacting you is that part of a project we are having an Mental Health Awareness Day on 3rd June I am in charge of the "Raffle" I have a autographed copy of Matthew Mitcham (Australian Gold Medallist Diver) his boo "Twists & Turns" as he suffered Mental Illness, If there is anything that you as a club are able to do it would mean the world to me & my class. Thanks for reading me message
Lesley
 
NRL beyondblue Cup: Wests Tigers focus on mental health after death of Mosese Fotuaika
Roy Masters

There are players and officials at Wests Tigers still haunted by the death of Mosese Fotuaika, the 20-year-old front-row forward who took his own life in February, 2013, shortly after sustaining a potentially season-ending pectoral muscle injury at the club's Concord gym.

On Monday, Wests Tigers will announce their round 23 match against Manly at Leichhardt Oval next Sunday will be for the NRL beyondblue Cup.

It is intriguing that a match against Manly, the bitter rivals of Wests in the late 70s and early 80s, would be chosen, given the clashes probably challenged the mental health of the city and code.

A club spokesman said, in reference to other home-game opponents, such as the round 26 member appreciation weekend, "The other games on the calendar had pre-existing focus."

But nothing assumes more focus at Wests Tigers than mental health, given the soul-searching that has consumed the club since Fotuaika's death. The club has employed three education and welfare officers and the NRL's last rating put the club No.2 in this area.

Sauaso Sue, a teammate of Fotuaika in Wests Tigers' premiership winning under-20 team in 2012, says, "We both got the opportunity to train full-time together and then it happened in the last weights session before the break. I think about him all the time. I drive past his [Merrylands] street. It saddens me still today."

Asked if a tragedy could recur at the club, given that no official, other than the club physiotherapist, spoke to Fotuaika, Sue says, "Our three wellbeing officers are doing a great job. A club can always improve on what it is doing but our officers, such as [former Wests Tigers and Penrith premiership player] Paul Whatuira do a lot of talks with us about mental health."

Sue was at Campbelltown on February 28, 2013, the day of Fotuika's death and the last training day before a short recess before the start of the NRL season.

"Some of us under-20 boys were at a function with the mayor of Campbelltown ," he said. "We were all pretty split up. It was a chaotic day. Ben Murdoch-Masila [now playing in England] took him home. He lived around the corner."

Apart from the match against Manly being an official occasion to remember Mosese, it is also a reminder he could have achieved Sue's coming milestone.

"It will be my 100th game as well," Sue says, "God willing, I'll be up for selection."

Wests Tigers vice-captain Chris Lawrence recalls the day: "He was in my gym group. We'd just finished weights. One of the boys drove him home and was to bring him back after changing because we were all going to have a [break up] game of cricket."

(Murdoch-Masila did return to Fotuaika's home but could not raise him).

Asked to describe Fotuaika, Lawrence says, "I'd only spent a pre-season with him. He was quiet. Very talented. Training the house down. I am confident he would have been a regular first grader."

Asked if he felt haunted by the experience, he says, "Certainly disappointed. I've looked back and asked myself could I have done more in that situation."

Asked if a player as distressed as Fotuaika could be effectively abandoned again by the club, Lawrence says, "The club has definitely taken the right steps with wellbeing.

"There's been a massive change in Wests Tigers in the last few years with respect to mental health awareness. We've all got the message that we must break down the stigma about mental health, that we've got someone to go to. Plus we know there are organisations, such as beyondblue, who can be accessed."

The chief executive of beyondblue, Georgie Harman, says of the coming NRL beyondblue Cup, "These matches are fundamental to our work and really central to the message we can give the country. Men, as a whole, are not as willing as women, to seek help. Of the eight suicides every day, six are men. More and more footballers are willing to talk openly. They are big, fit, strapping men but just as vulnerable to mental health problems as the rest of us.'

beyondblue 1300 22 4636

Lifeline 13 11 14

Mens Help Line 1300 78 99 78
 
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