{"id":812306,"date":"2026-07-20T13:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T13:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812306\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T13:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T13:42:12","slug":"nrl-news-2026-brandon-smith-sober-rehab-100-footy-interview-south-sydney-rabbitohs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812306\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026 | Brandon Smith sober, rehab, 100% Footy interview; South Sydney Rabbitohs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rabbitohs hooker Brandon Smith<\/a> has opened up on his addiction journey<\/a>, revealing he\u2019s more than 300 days sober after a troubling period. <\/p>\n

Smith went into rehabilitation<\/a> over the off-season to deal with alcohol issues after a year where he had to face court in Queensland over charges relating to drugs and betting offences<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brandon Smith on 100% Footy. \u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

He was released early from the Roosters mid-season and joined arch rivals the South Sydney Rabbitohs. <\/p>\n

On Nine\u2019s 100% Footy, Smith was asked by Paul Gallen about his rehabilitation and sobriety and explained he now has the desire to help others in similar situations. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going awesome, I\u2019m glad you asked because the more people that know about this the better because I want to try and inspire other people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a great career and had a lot of fun but sometimes I feel that fun can get away from you and I feel like it did, particularly during my time at the Roosters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m over 300 days sober now.\u201d <\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s reveal brought about applause from the audience and a smile from the man himself. <\/p>\n

The hooker has had a rough run with injuries this season, hurting his calf in pre-season<\/a> and again in April<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He has been a regular in the side since returning from that calf issue in May.<\/p>\n

Smith admitted the injuries \u201ctested\u201d him during the sobriety. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been easy, it\u2019s been very hard. Especially through injuries it\u2019s like what am I doing this for? I\u2019ve given up something I love and nothing really good\u2019s coming of it. That\u2019s really been testing me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully I\u2019m back on the field, I\u2019m playing alright footy compared to what I was tossing up at the Roosters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old went on to explain how grateful he is for the support from the Rabbitohs before making it clear it was his sole decision to \u201cchange my ways\u201d and go into rehabilitation. <\/p>\n

Smith was then asked about the difference between playing in Melbourne and Sydney, having won a premiership at the Storm where the spotlight is nowhere near as heightened compared to the Roosters and Rabbitohs. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brandon Smith. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

He admitted he thought he could \u201cget away with more things\u201d in Melbourne with less scrutiny. <\/p>\n

Phil Gould probed Smith on his life outside of football, asking what he\u2019ll do once his career is over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know yet, that\u2019s still part of a transition phase,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know one thing, I don\u2019t want to get digging holes, I want to be involved in rugby league. That\u2019s my number one thing because rugby league has given me a lot of things in life … I just want to be part of rugby league for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabbitohs hooker Brandon Smith has opened up on his addiction journey, revealing he\u2019s more than 300 days sober…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-812306","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\/812306","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=812306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}