LEGEND IN HIS OWN TIME

Sustaining loving community relations with compassion, balance and understanding within the rugby league fraternity seems to have taken on a new attitude since Andrew Johns has taken the outstanding action to expose himself and his family to the years of heart ache, worry and distress of being a first class champion sports identity. This pressure has placed enormous strain upon this mere mortal Andrew Johns at an incredible cost.
There are very few in Australia who would not recognise Andrew Johns from his high profile sporting prowess,and larrikin like cheeky brilliance. He is unquestionably already a legend in his own time. Therefore the community and individually we have own deep sense of disappointment at Andrews amazing misfortune of feeling he needed extra stimulation to keep the "Black Dog" of depression at bay.
Andrew simply has never felt good enough since he was a wee small child trying to emulate the antics of his big brother and famous already Dad.

Let us all accept our share of this responsibility of recognising just how much pressure our expectations thrust upon those champions be they Cathy Freeman, Ian Thorpe, Andrew Johns, or Shane Warne, Michael Hutchins,David Page, Elvis Presley or the hundreds of unknown aboriginals who have committed suicide or fallen to the bottom of their personal worlds.

When the rest of us allow our compassionate consciousness to actually open up to these super stars and take the time to ask What happened? Why was success never enough" Why did they need more?

Then we maybe able to begin to understand that champions become such because they are driven by some insatiable desire seeking inner nourishment for seemingly heightened senses which to these particular group of high achievers is simply unavailable in day to day living.

It is at this place now created by Andrew Johns by once more running between the posts and placing the ball firmly back in the National Rugby Leagues lap that we believe Andrew will score his greatest achievement and advance his reputation as a champion and take the off field lead to recovery for literally thousands of traumatised Young boys who will be lifted to greater heights by Andrew's courageous revelation.