“I went on a four-week holiday at a rehab facility”, Smith told the podcast. “It’s something I couldn’t more highly recommend for people who are dealing with issues. Mine was alcohol and mental health, and abuse of pretty much every nature.
“Throughout the last five years of my career … I had this identity as a party boy … and I played up to that … When I came out of that facility, the whole thing was about re-identifying myself as a professional athlete. I’m not Brandon Smith, the party boy, I’m Brandon Smith, the rugby league player.”
Smith said it was his decision to go into rehab, but his South Sydney club had been supportive.
“For so long I enjoyed the rugby league and party life, but I’m a little bit allergic to alcohol now,’ Smith said. “I’m doing everything I can to stay on the straight and narrow. I attend AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] meetings and GA [Gamblers Anonymous] meetings. I do everything I can to just stay on this path.
“The life I am living right now is so much better than the life I was living this last couple of years.
“Since I’ve left [rehab], I’ve gone to at least three team functions where all the boys were having a fun time. But I managed to do it without alcohol … I’m still an annoying larrikin, a pest of a bloke. I didn’t need alcohol to do all that. It was refreshing to know I could do it without alcohol.”
Brandon Smith emphasised that re-identifying as a professional athlete and attending AA and GA meetings helped him. Photo / Photosport
Smith said he was continuing to have regular meetings with a psychologist.
He said he met a lot of great people at the rehab facility, where he was only allowed access to his phone for 20 minutes a day.
He said he had been trying to focus on more healthy activities. For example, he was watching the sunrise every morning.
Smith has resumed training and said he now had no excuse not to be at his best on the field. “I could show up on Monday after a big weekend where I had 20 beers and so I understand why I feel like shit. Now I have a lot of ownership of my own performance because I’m doing all the right things.”
Smith said he hoped to rekindle the love he had for rugby league. “I’d be f***ed if I wasn’t a[n] NRL player, it was what I was brought on Earth to do!”
“I’ve had my struggles and I’m going to continue to have them, it’s never going to be smooth sailing … but I’m on the right trajectory.”
Smith did not refer directly to his criminal charges but in November, his lawyer said he would plead not guilty.
– RNZ