{"id":724170,"date":"2026-06-09T01:30:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724170\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T01:30:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:30:37","slug":"former-nrl-player-kane-evans-finally-free-after-coming-out-as-gay-nrl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724170\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NRL player Kane Evans finally \u2018free\u2019 after coming out as gay | NRL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former prop forward Kane Evans says a weight has lifted from his shoulders after he became only the second male NRL<\/a> player to come out as gay. In an emotional interview with Channel Nine\u2019s 100% Footy, the 131-time NRL player said he had struggled with addiction, suicidal thoughts and experienced homelessness as he grappled with his sexuality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had three goals in life,\u201d Evans said. \u201cAnd it was to play NRL, to buy my parents a house, and then I wanted to top myself, because I was living in denial from a young age. I know that I\u2019m gay. But I went down every other avenue to sort of build up these walls. To be someone, to escape who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans said former premiership player Joe Galuvao, now on staff with the Rugby League Players Association\u2019s past players and transition program, had helped turn his life around.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe said, \u2018you deserve to live a good life and you deserve healing\u2019,\u201d Evans said. \u201cI sat there and thought about what a good life or healing was.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he said that, that\u2019s when I started questioning, maybe death isn\u2019t in the plan for me yet. Maybe I do deserve to go and get help. I thank God that he came and visited me and got me into rehab with the help of the RLPA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson, who handed Evans his NRL debut in 2014, also proved a lifeline.<\/p>\n

The three-time premiership winning coach invited 34-year-old Evans to Roosters headquarters after he finished a stint in rehabilitation and has helped pay his rent.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe called me just to let me know that the Roosters are still my home and they\u2019ve got my back, whatever I\u2019m facing,\u201d Evans said. \u201cThat meant the world to me. He took me, my best friend, and one of my mentors to Roosters HQ a week after I got out of rehab.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave them the full tour and took us into his office and virtually told me that the Roosters are paying for my mental health. Robbo, out of his own money, paid four weeks of my rent as I had just gotten into a place that week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane Evans during his time at Parramatta in 2019. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP<\/p>\n

Evans becomes the first men\u2019s professional rugby league player to come out since Ian Roberts more than 30 years ago. He celebrated four months of sobriety in May and hoped his story would show others they could live truthfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve carried [hiding my sexuality] around my whole life,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m here today to show people that you don\u2019t have to live like that. Even now I feel a bit more free, just by saying it out loud, I\u2019ve brought it to the light.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had people blackmail me. I\u2019ve had people try to throw me under the bus, I\u2019ve had people try to deflect their problems by trying to out me. And it just built up a lot of shame, and fear and guilt within myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019ve spoken about it, I\u2019ve shattered all those chains. They\u2019ve lost their power. I feel like coming and speaking to you today, fear, shame, guilt \u2013 all of that, I\u2019ve cut ties with all that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel peace within, and I feel like a weight has lifted off my shoulders. I\u2019m a bit proud of myself and when I look in the mirror, I\u2019m going to smile now, not have those bad thoughts.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the NRL\u2019s most feared enforcers at his peak, Evans made his NRL debut with the Roosters in 2014 and played 74 games there before joining Parramatta in 2018. He played one season with the Warriors in 2021 and finished his professional career with English side Hull FC in 2023. Evans also played 13 matches for Fiji at international level.<\/p>\n

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline<\/a> is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans<\/a> can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline<\/a> at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org<\/a>. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former prop forward Kane Evans says a weight has lifted from his shoulders after he became only the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-724170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}