{"id":399671,"date":"2024-06-03T22:19:37","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T22:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=399671"},"modified":"2024-06-03T23:06:22","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T23:06:22","slug":"legend-reveals-drug-use-fake-injuries-in-raw-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=399671","title":{"rendered":"Legend reveals drug use, fake injuries in raw interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

O\ufeffne of the rugby league's greatest players, Eric Grothe, has opened up on the issues that have plagued his life and career in a raw interview.<\/p>\n

The 64-year-old, who won four grand finals with the Parramatta Eels<\/a> and played nine Origins for NSW, is regarded as one of the best wingers the sport has seen.<\/p>\n

Grothe was a pivotal part of the blue and gold outfit's dominance through the 1980s and became a cult hero among the club's fans and the sport's wider audience.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> De Minaur stuns Medvedev in 20-year French first<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Five contenders revealed as Eels prepare for interviews<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Matildas legend farewelled in 'special' victory<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

However, in a new interview on the podcast Andy Raymond Unfiltered<\/em>, he opened up on the issues that saw him fake injuries to escape playing games for the Eels.<\/p>\n

"It was like there were two faces – there was one that was in the public domain and there was the other one that was in the private domain," Grothe explained.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"The ego was running riot. I was considered in public a pretty mild-mannered type of guy, but I had this big ego … but I played football in a scared way. It felt like I was little.<\/p>\n

"I just had no self-esteem, I started faking injuries. I didn't want to play. I could have played a lot more games. I had no self-esteem at all to be better at what I was doing.<\/p>\n

"There were a number of games I pulled out of on Sunday morning."<\/p>\n

Grothe's knees would become a factor as his career progressed, with the legend revealing he was "a little bit happy" when his final injury occurred.<\/p>\n

The retired star also revealed his use of drugs – both during his career and after hanging up the boots – before turning a corner in recent years.<\/p>\n

"I did have some drugs when I was playing, every now and then I'd partake in some during the footy season, in the off-season a little bit more," Grothe said.<\/p>\n

"I never really escaped myself. You try to run away from yourself. You make excuses. I supposed having a smoke takes away from having to deal with it.<\/p>\n

"I did cocaine pretty heavily there for a little while [after retiring]. I got in some dark places. It was a period of time there where it was an introvert thing. Cocaine I'd have by myself, in my own room, that led me to doing some stupid things.<\/p>\n

"It's only the last four years I snapped out of that and woke up to myself."<\/p>\n

Grothe also admitted to "breaking up his family" in the 1990s after splitting up with his wife, but thanked his sons Eric Jr and Daniel for their support.<\/p>\n

\"Eric<\/p>\n

"Eric Jr has been a wonderful rock for me, I told him everything," he said.<\/p>\n

"He didn't judge. He's done some things in his time as well. He was good and my younger son Daniel too. They've both been fantastic."\ufeff<\/p>\n

Grothe was named among the official list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players in 2008 – the same year he was inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame\ufeff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

O\ufeffne of the rugby league's greatest players, Eric Grothe, has opened up on the issues that have plagued his life and career in a raw […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":399675,"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\/399671"}],"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=399671"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399678,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399671\/revisions\/399678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/399675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=399671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=399671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=399671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}