PEOPLE often make mistakes, but learning from them is the key to moving on and improving as a person.
For Salford Red Devils star Tim Lafai, he has reinvented himself in Super League after distancing himself from the sport for a year.
But, back on Good Friday in 2020, Lafai was still a player in the NRL, plying his trade with the St George Illawarra Dragons.
That date, however, will live long in the star centre’s memory after he was arrested for a domestic dispute.
It’s an extremely honest account, with the Samoan centre baring all on the Out Of Your League Super League podcast.
“From what I remember, it was over a little something hat could have been resolved from me opening up and talking to my wife because I had so much bottled in me. She said something and I snapped and before you know it, furniture is flying around the house,” Lafai said.
“I’m not thinking at the time, I’ve blacked out and grabbed a straight bottle of hard liqour and started drinking it and smashing the walls downstairs.
“I grabbed a sledgehammer and walked round the back yard and a neighbour called the cops because he saw me and heard some of what had gone on inside.
“My wife called Junior Amone who I trained with at the Dragons, I don’t remember this, she called him and he tried to calm me down but he couldn’t get through to me.
“She called my brother and her family members, they took my kids to a different room and that’s when the cops arrived and the ambulance staff sedated me. I woke up in hospital and I was strapped to a hospital bed.
“I had these handcuffs on me, I was confused. The last thing I remember was throwing a chair across the lounge and going downstairs.
“Waking up there I kind of panicked. I was still drowsy and the police were there. The nurse was there looking after me and said I had a mental breakdown and sedated me. I tried to ask them where my wife and kids were.
“They didn’t give me any full details of what had happened. They were worried about me and were trying to ensure I didn’t have another rage.
“It wasn’t until they put me in a psych ward for a week before they explained each stage of what happened.”
Lafai believes that the incident is an important life lesson and one which has changed his outlook on life.
“It had been building up and unfortunately my wife and kids copped it, luckily I didn’t physically touch them but it’s not something nice.
“It upsets me because my kids were there and I had to try and explain to them. It’s something I will always beat myself up about.
“It is not the example I want to set for my boy or my girls so it was definitely tough.
“Luckily they haven’t brought it up, my eldest daughter probably remembers. It’s a good teaching lesson for myself that they can open up to me with any struggle in life. It’s ok to be vulnerable, I now can teach my son a better life lesson.”
