SA Footy

"extract from the daily telegraph"
Andrew Johns: My 12-year drug hell

August 30, 2007 07:37pm

IN A shock confession Andrew Johns has revealed he was in the grip of drugs and alcohol throughout his whole playing career.

"I took the drugs to escape from the pressure and get away from being a football player," he told The Daily Telegraph tonight.

The league legend also admitted that he is battling depression.

In an extraordinary about-face from his earlier assertion that he had no intention of taking an ecstasy pill, which he said an unknown person placed in his jeans pocket at a London club, Johns came clean.

"I was going to take the pill for sure," he said.

"I'm not looking for sympathy, I put my hand up. I've done the wrong thing."

Wow, this will be a massive story on the NRL footy show tonight, and will be interesting if his brother comments at all about it. I'm not a fan of Rugby League at all, in fact cant stand it, but do occasionally tune into the "other" Footy Show for the theatre, but this is something that they wont be able to poke fun at though obviously.

..double post..please delete..

Man imagine how good he woulda played not being on drugs !!

just finished watching a live interview with andrew johns being interviewed by phil "gus" gould.
unbelievable what andrew has to say. phil gould looks absolutely shocked while talking to him. he says how he took it at times during the season and how to beat the testing over 10 years also says how his family, the club and some players knew he took drugs. goes on to say he has taken medication for the passed 5 years for depression. also the availability of drugs for players in night clubs. so much more to add BUT i suggest you watch it whether your a RL follower or not. phil gould looks a shattered man interviewing him.

Amazing how blokes are only contrite when they get caught.

McAlmanac wrote:Amazing how blokes are only contrite when they get caught.

and always seem to blame depression (funny that has never come up before during his career?) just to lessen the guilt. It must have been very depressing to be an icon of the sport you play, earn huge $$$ and live a lifestyle that most of us only dream about.

poor comment, even those with (from the outside) who have amazing lives and seem to have evrything going for them can suffer depression. How the F&^ck would you know what is going on in his world??

As good as it would be to make all that cash playing NRL, to be in the public eye so often can also be a person's hell.
And, there is always the main cause of depression amongst men .... WOMEN!!!
Joey might have had tonnes of issues, with women, drug addictions, guilt, kids with one night stands, hell anything.

BPBRB wrote:

McAlmanac wrote:Amazing how blokes are only contrite when they get caught.

and always seem to blame depression (funny that has never come up before during his career?) just to lessen the guilt. It must have been very depressing to be an icon of the sport you play, earn huge $$$ and live a lifestyle that most of us only dream about.

Can effect anyone - famous, rich, elite sports people...
Think the Owen Wilson story from early in the week has demostrated this.

scoob wrote:

BPBRB wrote:

McAlmanac wrote:Amazing how blokes are only contrite when they get caught.

and always seem to blame depression (funny that has never come up before during his career?) just to lessen the guilt. It must have been very depressing to be an icon of the sport you play, earn huge $$$ and live a lifestyle that most of us only dream about.

Can effect anyone - famous, rich, elite sports people...
Think the Owen Wilson story from early in the week has demostrated this.

Yes we do dream about achieving the ultimate in our lifes

but imagine the public scrutiny , every street u walk ppl with either compliment or bag u .. the gutless ppl who will yell 50m away that ur shi*e,
u have a bad game and the media hound etc

lets remember johnsy for what he did .... a very very very good rugby player....

Hardly remember Joey playing a bad game. An amazing sportsman. Being a Queenslander he's one of those players we loved to hate, but have to respect him as a player. He just dominated Origin when he was playing and won so many games off his on back...now I'm getting depressed!

Good on him for taking the hard road and admitting it other than the same old line..."it's not mine".

Drugs are a lifestyle choice.

Why can't a high profile person who gets busted with drugs just say "yeah mate, I did 'em. Loved the high they gave me. Allowed me to party hard. It's just a part of life when you're on this amount of $$$$."

PS: Wonder how many Aussie sportspeople are looking at this and wondering when they're gonna get busted...

Still the greatest rugby league player (from the little I know about RL). This has nothing to do with his on field performance.

I agree with previous points - only contrite as he has been caught? And depression? Whilst possible, I reckon it's the claytons depression (the depression you get when you don't have depression).

Everyone gets the blues from time to time, usually a good old "harden the f*ck up" from a mate, or a kicking the cat etc. is enough to snap you out of it.

The point is, most haven't turned to drugs through any of the crap that has got them down in life.

Take it on the chin and sort your shit out Joey.

As someone who's lost a friend to depression in the past six months, I don't like feeling that someone's using it as an excuse just to extricate themselves from a delicate situation. I feel it cheapens what is a very serious problem.

Dogwatcher wrote:As someone who's lost a friend to depression in the past six months, I don't like feeling that someone's using it as an excuse just to extricate themselves from a delicate situation. I feel it cheapens what is a very serious problem.

Indeed, I have a family member quite deep in the mire and have been for a few years. A long road and certainly not one that allows elite sporting performance to co-exist.

I feel for Joey I would hate to be in his shoes. Modra suffered the same here in Adelaide as Joey did in Newcastle. A one team town is a hard place to be yourself. At least joey had the guts to come out and talk about it unlike ben cousins.

Strawb07 wrote:I feel for Joey I would hate to be in his shoes. Modra suffered the same here in Adelaide as Joey did in Newcastle. A one team town is a hard place to be yourself. At least joey had the guts to come out and talk about it unlike ben cousins.

Yeah, heaven forbid Cousins gets help for a problem he has admitted he has

Would you "feel sorry" for Cousins had he got through his career without ever having the issue come out but then he got caught after he'd retired? What a ridiculous statement. You feel sorry for a bloke like Johns but bag Cousins What is the difference other than the fact that Cousins has admitted his problem and sought help? The only things Johns has done is to come on TV and make excuses (however legitimate) for his problems. Cousins didn't sensationalise his problems the media did.

Rod there is a difference between the two Joey has admitted he has a problem on Television and is fighting his demons. Ben Cousins hasn't said a damn thing and when he came back playing football everyone made a f**king big deal out of Cousins and what a superstar he was. A big part of me wishes Joey was caught during his playing day and made to get rehab. but that just didn't happen he got caught and now came out with it. Jeff Farmer admitted he had a booze problem and so did sonny bill but Cousins has not once in person to my knowledge admitted he has a drug problem. he sort help and got help good for him but i feel that joey will pay more for admitting this than Ben Cousins ever will.

smac wrote:And depression? Whilst possible, I reckon it's the claytons depression (the depression you get when you don't have depression).

You don't actually know tho, even tho you are happy to make a big judgement call assuming you are right

Apparently he is bi-polar which is a fair way from a clayton's depression and definitely not a case of "the blues"

smac wrote:Everyone gets the blues from time to time, usually a good old "harden the f*ck up" from a mate, or a kicking the cat etc. is enough to snap you out of it.

Mmmm ..... check out Beyond Blue website ....