While front-rower's are known as the muscle of every rugby league outfit, throwing their bodies around with glee abandon, and getting up tackle after tackle, run after run, showing the traits that make them rugby league hard-men.
Those days are no more as rugby league continues to try and break social stigmas around the game, a campaign Liam Knight has taken up his shoulders personally.
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The South Sydney Rabbitohs' prop tore his ACL and MCL following a cannonball tackle in NSW Cup last year, ending his season, and leaving him an outsider when it came to training.
While his mates were all running drills out on Redfern Oval, preparing for a finals assault, Knight was battling his own demons in the rehab room a hundred metres away, so close to his team-mates, but so isolated in the same breath.
It's easy for anyone in rugby league to put on a brave face and hide the issues that lay deep inside, whether it be a relationship breakdown, substance abuse or a legal issue, players have always adhered to this gladiatorial mindset, tough and unbreakable.
Liam Knight is over all that.
The 28-year-old former Sea Eagle, Rooster and Raider has found a home at the Bunnies, joining under Wayne Bennett in 2019 and was even considered an Origin bolter at one point by Brad Fittler.
Opening up toย The Daily Telegraph'sย Buzz Rothfield, Knight has revealed his stint in rehabilitation last year for both alcohol and prescription drug abuse, and how he used the substances to escape from his injury.
โI had this victim mentality,โ he told publication.
โPoor me, poor me. It all just spiralled and I lost control of myself. I was angry on the world. Really depressed.
โI hit the party scene hard to get over it. Huge nights. Sometimes for two or three days. I was out of it. I'd go out wherever there was something going on.
โThe prescription painkillers. Endone, Panadeine forte, drinking. All that stuff.
โI was a mess and in a really bad place trying to hide from everything.โ
It's been just over four months since Knight last picked up an alcoholic beverage, crediting his head coach and CEO at South Sydney for saving him at his lowest ebb.
โOctober 21 was my last drink in Byron Bay,โ he said.
โI was at my lowest.ย I was having some dark thoughts and knew I had to get help.
โI picked up my phone and rang J.D (Jason Demetriou) and told him I was in a really bad way.โ
As soon as the middle forward return to Sydney from New South Wales' north coast, he met with his coach at a cafe in Cronulla.
โI was so nervous having to front him, but he was unbelievably supportive. He and Blake Solly organised me help straight away.
โThey were f***ing amazing. Like family. So caring.โ
The pair helped admit Knight into a rehabilitation centre in Lilyfield, where he spent four weeks as he came to terms with his issues.
There's no shame in the front-rower, nor should there be, revealing that he still goes to weekly meetings for alcohol addiction.
โA couple of people recognised me. Not that it worried me," Knight toldย The Daily Telegraph.
โEveryone's there for the same reason. There's no judgment.
โIt was a pretty full-on schedule. Group sessions, one on ones, Alcohol Anonymous meetings.ย I still go to AA meetings twice a week.
โI get up the front and say โI'm Liam, I'm an alcoholic.'โ
The short ball does the trick for Liam Knight ๐#NRLSouthsPanthers#TelstraPremiership pic.twitter.com/UDTWxycu1y
— NRL (@NRL) June 15, 2019
The front-rower, entering his fifth year at the club, isn't expected to return to the playing field from his knee injury until at least the backend of April.
Regardless of when he returns to the field, Knight's focus is just getting out there and competing alongside his Redfern teammates.
โI feel so good about myself and so healthy,โ he said.
โAll I want to do now is play football and help the boys win a few games.
โI could not have done this without the support of the coach, the players and everyone at Souths.โ
He'll come under fire by those brushing past the headline, but it doesn't faze the 28-year-old.
If even one rugby league player reads his story and relates to it, if it can give one person the push they need to get help instead of bottling it up as many players do, then Knight has done his job.
โYou know what. I'm not ashamed of myself one bit," Knight said.
โI just want people to hear my story because I want them to know there is help out there.
โI wish I'd done this sooner. If I can help one or two people, that'll make the story worthwhile.โ
