Two years since a career-ending injury, Simon Dwyer is yet to be contacted by anyone at the NRL
Nick Walshaw
The Daily Telegraph
May 02, 2014 12:00AM
Simon Dwyer 2013 interview3:48
Lara Pitt’s 2013 Simon Dwyer feature
NRLYesterday 3:48
EVEN if someone did ring, Simon Dwyer couldn’t lift the phone with his right hand.
Put simply, it’s shot. Useless. Disabled ever since that afternoon two years ago when, attempting a tackle at Campbelltown Stadium, this promising Wests Tiger ripped five nerves straight off his spinal column.
So what has been done since?
Remembering that before rugby league disabled him — before his hand swelled, shoulder routinely slipped out of joint and the pain medication gave him seizures — this young forward was among the brightest prospects in the game.
Simon Dwyer watches from the sidelines at NSW City training.
Simon Dwyer watches from the sidelines at NSW City training. Source: News Corp Australia
Not only on the cusp of NSW Origin selection, but owning a thwack which, ironing out no less than Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, was hailed on these very pages as ‘Hit of the Century’.
So in the two years since the Greatest Game of All ruined him, who from the NRL has called?
“I’ve never been contacted by anyone at the NRL,’’ Dwyer shrugs.
MCKINNON RE-SIGNS WITH KNIGHTS
Players Association, then?
“Ah, I’m not even sure what they do,’’ he concedes. “Seem a waste of time. I don’t even know if I have a manager anymore. I saw him at a game recently and he said ‘Hi’, but that was it.
“It’s a little disappointing to think, if I were in any other job, insurance would cover this injury. But being a footballer … yeah, I’m on my own.”
Simon Dwyer is rugby league’s secret shame.
That isn’t him talking either — it’s us.
McKinnon's job for life0:32
Alex McKinnon offered job for life by NRL
NewsApril 30, 2014 0:32
For while he was once among the most feared defenders in footy, this affable 25-year-old — a fella working as City Origin assistant in Dubbo this week because “Freddy never forgot me” — refuses to whack a game that so badly betrayed him.
Indeed, who has time?
What with the daily physiotherapy, the massages and weights. Bloke even bought his own acupuncture kit.
Which makes him the kind of bloke who doesn’t covet interviews.
MCKINNON OFFERED JOB FOR LIFE BY NRL
But when cornered at City training on Thursday — still wearing the same sling he vowed two years ago would not stop his NRL return — he somewhat reluctantly agreed to open up.
Explaining not only his own battle, but the happiness at seeing Alex McKinnon — a footballer three years his junior — being so well supported by the NRL, the Newcastle Knights, indeed the entire rugby league community.
City vs Country
Dwyer has been wearing a sling since his injury two years ago. Source: News Corp Australia
“What Alex has suffered — terrible,’’ Dwyer says almost in a whisper. “And I hope he gets all the support possible because not only does he deserve it, it’s the right thing to do.
“I mean, we keep hearing how rugby league is business, so why isn’t it run like one? Why aren’t footballers insured?
“Cars and houses get insured, but not us. It’s tough but, while you hope things change, you’ve just gotta get on with it.”
Which is how Dwyer has been every day since that attempted tackle.
When colliding awkwardly into the hip of Canterbury prop Michael Hodgson — “my shoulder went one way, my head the other” — he ripped from his spinal cord the C5, C6, C7, C8 and T1.
Alex rises for Knights 1:11
Alex McKinnon appearance lifts spirits for NRL
NewsApril 27, 2014 1:11
“Initially I felt frozen,” Dwyer recalls. “I couldn’t talk, couldn’t move, couldn’t feel anything from the neck down.
“There was only a weird sensation, like my legs and arms were in the air. But looking back at video since, I was just flat.”
Eventually, a Wests Tigers trainer sat Dwyer up and, after relevant checks, tried to walk him from the field.
“But I was like, ‘shit, I can’t feel my legs’,’’ he continues. “Eventually, all the feeling came back. Well, everywhere but my right arm.”
And so in the weeks following, this tough Sydney westie underwent surgery that saw nerves taken from different parts of his body — including his left arm and diaphragm — and then redirected into his motionless limb.
Dwyer. in his playing days with Wests Tigers.
Dwyer. in his playing days with Wests Tigers. Source: News Limited
Yet two years on, and living at home with his parents, he still has no movement in his fingers. Can manage just one arm curl “against gravity”.
Holding a cup of water, or phone, impossible.
Still, Dwyer refuses to quit.
Right now, driving on a disabled permit, learning to write as a leftie and battling on without those pain killers that caused him “little side effects”.
Like what?
“Seizures,’’ he shrugs.
So what is being done?
For while the Knights may have honoured McKinnon’s contract upgrade, Dwyer had his deal terminated by the Tigers — who couldn’t fit him under the salary cap — and, instead, was appointed to staff on a smaller three-year agreement.
Dwyer’s staff appointment with Wests Tigers runs out this year.
Dwyer’s staff appointment with Wests Tigers runs out this year. Source: News Limited
It is a deal for which the disabled footballer has always been grateful. An agreement which, we also note, runs out this year, right?
“I’m not sure what’s happening yet,’’ he says. “I would love to stay in the game and really enjoy my work at Wests Tigers, doing video for the boys and statistics for (coach) Mick Potter on game day.
“The club has said they’re yet to finalise things for next year so who knows?”
Dwyer is also grateful to Freddy.
The NSW Origin great who not only called him into camp in 2012, but has made this former City forward his first staffing appointment in the two years since.
“Which is incredible because some guys, they don’t even have that,’’ Dwyer says. “Only last week I got a call from another footballer in a similar situation.
“He’s struggling and, given the extent of my injuries, wanted to know what the NRL had done. But, you know ... what could I say?”
Simon Dwyer received little support from the NRL after his career-ending injury two years
Simon Dwyer received little support from the NRL after his career-ending injury two years ago.
