Greg Inglis: ‘Some days I’ve been on the road and all I want to do is to sleep, I just don’t want to do anything because it was so heavy.’Greg Inglis: ‘Some days I’ve been on the road and all I want to do is to sleep, I just don’t want to do anything because it was so heavy.’It was a news-making episode, with a satisfying redemption arc, but Greg Inglis admits his 2020 Australian Story dubbed “Beating the Blues” offered something less than the complete picture.
And so four years later Inglis – after another rugby league retirement, a second marriage and days where all he wants to do is sleep – is done holding back. “Now you can ask me anything, I don’t really care,” he says. “I honestly don’t”. Transitioning into retirement, Inglis was compelled to apply his experience to help others. “We’re going to have challenges in our life, there’s no doubt about it, but don’t go down the track of, especially what I did, the alcohol and prescription drugs just to numb things.” With the partnership of long-time friend Brent Richardson, the son of former Souths and new Wests chief executive Shane Richardson, Inglis founded the Goanna Academy.
“It’s never easy going and telling your story, no matter how often you do it,” he says. “You have to be very genuine in the way that you tell it, you can’t just go through the motions, ‘oh this is what I’ve been through, hope youse are doing good’.” He signed with Souths in 2010 and won the club’s first premiership in 43 years, securing his place among the legends of the game. The enduring image of the Rabbitohs’ grand final defeat of the Bulldogs in 2014 was Inglis celebrating the final try with a goanna’s crawl.
Cherrington says that experience gave the entire office a buzz, and encouragement their efforts were on the right track. “We got an email saying Greg is going to see Albanese and I was like, ‘what!?’,” she says, leaving her mouth wide open. “I just think that’s the coolest thing, the opportunity and the impact: we’re speaking to literally the Prime Minister and pitching ideas for the importance around mental health.