OVER the years a very small number of Super League and NRL players have been given drugs bans.
But, even fewer of those come out and talk about it.
Such a statement isn’t true for former North Queensland Cowboys, Penrith Panthers and Leeds Rhinos hooker James Segeyaro, who was banned from rugby league for 20 months after returning a positive sample for the banned substance Ligandrol before making his return in 2022 for the Manly Sea Eagles.
At the time of his ban, handed out in 2019, Segeyaro was getting ready to go on holiday before his world crashed down around him.
“I was in the airport in Amman in Jordan and was with two of my close mates lining up to go to Turkey in an off-season trip,” Segeyaro told League Express.
“I was at the check-in and my phone rung from a random Australian number and heard the news and almost fainted in the airport.
“Everything ran through my head such as ‘how did this happen?’ I knew I had never done anything like this and so I was running through the scenarios of where I could have picked this up.
“We eventually got to the bottom of it and it was proven to be the person I was staying with at the time at Brisbane.
“He was using a protein for himself and it contaminated the blender with the residue that was left in the blender. I stood acquitted and got the ban reduced to 20 months.
“In hindsight it sucked that I was out for so long but what doesn’t kill makes you stronger. I found a lot in myself and understood who I was as a person, what I want to be like going forward and rediscovering my purpose in the world.
“I was able to put my energy into other skills. I can film and edit videos now which can help me in the real world. It’s hard to get out of that mindset bubble of training and games.
“Sometimes you don’t have time to step outside of the bubble which means you don’t realise that there are a lot of things going around in the world.”
Segeyaro explains how being a rugby league player had given him the skills necessary to get through that period.
“It was super difficult, probably the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my life and just mentally, it took a toll,” Segeyaro told League Express.
“The great thing about rugby league or being an athlete is you prepare yourself to be scrutinised and prepare yourself to be in those mental battles in a game and find little challenges within each day whether it’s in training or playing where you know you’ve got to perform or someone else can take your position.
“The skills I’ve learnt through rugby and the trials and tribulations I had in my upbringing have prepared me to withstand the mental strain of it.
“It wasn’t easy and I’ve got to give credit to the people around me, I’ve got a good support base and people who really care about who I was as a person.
“My dad entrusted in me to pursue other things outside of rugby league and have interests outside of rugby which helped my mental health because I was able to focus my frustrations and energy towards things that didn’t involve rugby league when I didn’t have rugby league there.”