{"id":330892,"date":"2023-09-13T21:07:43","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T21:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=330892"},"modified":"2023-09-14T04:01:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T04:01:00","slug":"what-got-wallaby-through-dark-patch-after-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=330892","title":{"rendered":"What got Wallaby through 'dark patch' after tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout his rugby career, Izack Rodda<\/a> has encountered more adversity than most.<\/p>\n

Injury setbacks and a messy departure from the Reds<\/a> are just a few moments of note.<\/p>\n

But nothing can compare to the devastation of losing his father, Jon, to suicide in 2019.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Wallabies rocked by injury scare ahead of crucial clash<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Tigers may lose young star over Sheens axing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Wake-up call' that brought troubled AFL great back\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

As he prepared for the Super Rugby season opener that year against the Highlanders in Dunedin\ufeff, Rodda received the heart-breaking news on Thursday, two days before the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The now 27-year-old didn't even have the comfort of being at home.<\/p>\n

But on the Saturday, he ran out for the Reds<\/a> with his father in his memory.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffAt the start was a bit of shock when I first heard, I went through a few stages but I guess what made it easier was a lot of guys got around me a lot," he told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"A guy in the team (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) recently lost his father too so I guess we bonded a lot over that but what got me through it was my dad always loved watching me play football and I thought what better way to honour him than to play and to push through it.<\/p>\n

"And I think looking back at it with the support I had from the guys and my partner and family at the time, it was the right decision to play."<\/p>\n

Rodda didn't just go through the motions either, he managed to finish off an 80-metre try to keep the Reds in the game before the side fell agonisingly short with a 36-31 defeat.<\/p>\n

"A certain way to describe it is fight or flight, I guess I was just going through it, everything just seemed to work … that try, I didn't do much, I just picked the ball up and scored, I didn't do all the hard work," he laughed.<\/p>\n

\"Sonny<\/p>\n

Following his tragedy, the lock is now an R U OK? Day ambassador.<\/p>\n

Rodda's partnership with the organisation came about when he was going through a stage not many can understand, and he credits finding the charity for helping him come through the other side. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt all kind of came about when my dad passed away, so I was going through a stage then I fell onto these guys and then looked at what it did and thought this was pretty handy," he said.<\/p>\n

"It helped me get through the dark patch I went through and then I thought I'd like to jump on board and help other people that might go through similar scenarios."<\/p>\n

\ufeffJon's passing came when Rodda was a year into a relationship with his now fianc\u00e9e Kobe.<\/p>\n

Despite the "big hurdle" of having such a situation impact him during the early stages of a relationship, the 25-Test capped Wallaby said he "confided a lot" in his partner.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The ability to talk with people is the number one strategy he advocates when dealing with mental health issues. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"The biggest one for me is just understanding it's OK to feel that \ufeffway or to have those feelings, you're not alone and it is beneficial to talk to people," he said.<\/p>\n

"I confided a lot in my partner, we were only fresh really, about a year, so that was a big hurdle to come through in the early doors of the relationship.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD from September 9<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

"(Another strategy) is being aware of the signs when you start to slip into those thought processes but the biggest one that helped me is just talking to people."<\/p>\n

Rodda's ability to overcome trauma away from the field has helped him deal with the adversity on it.<\/p>\n

The forward missed out on selection for the 2023 Rugby World Cup<\/a> after reaggravating a foot injury. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rodda had previously missed the 2022 international season with the Wallabies due to injury and has only managed two games for the Western Force since signing with them in 2021.<\/p>\n

For the 27-year-old, the strategies used to combat issues off the field have correlated to what's occurred in his rugby career. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"In professional sport, definitely," he said.<\/p>\n

"Professional sport's a rollercoaster \ufeffbetween injuries … into just the environment of performance, all the work guys put into the pre seasons, the seasons, training, everyone wants to perform.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/rugby-world-cup-inside-line\/playlists\/podcast\/embed?style=cover<\/a><\/p>\n

"Sometimes you'll go through form slumps which you get down on yourself for that, even just the big hurdle of selection, if you make it or don't make it, it's pretty cut-throat, you're either good enough or you're not good enough and that can affect guys differently especially if you're not playing your best football or you just get dropped out of the blue."<\/p>\n

And now with those lessons learnt, \ufeffRodda knows he can be a role model for the next generation.<\/p>\n

"One-hundred per cent, I've spoken to a few guys that have come to me or guys that I've just seen that don't look like they're going to do well and just spoke to them or went out for a coffee, basically asked if they're OK after things have happened whether it's family trauma, injury, selection etc.," he explained<\/p>\n

"But I definitely think I've passed it on to a few people or I'm kind of known as that guy that if people need help they can just reach out."<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via<\/strong> lifeline.org.au<\/strong><\/a>. In an emergency, call 000.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout his rugby career, Izack Rodda has encountered more adversity than most. Injury setbacks and a messy departure from the Reds are just a few […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":330894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=330892"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330899,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330892\/revisions\/330899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/330894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}