Garry Jack achieved almost everything the game of rugby league had to offer back in his heyday. The Balmain Tigers legend was three times crowned the league’s Fullback of the Year. He even took out the game’s ultimate individual award, the Golden Boot, in 1986.

Despite playing almost 250 games for his beloved Tigers between 1981 and 1995, 17 Origins for the Blues and 22 games for Australia, “Jimmy Jack” says one of his finest personal achievements was the way he handled the daunting transition from football star to real-world citizen.

Here, the 57-year-old Jack shares his memories of how “yesterday’s heroes” handled the life change, and stresses the concerns he still holds for retiring rugby league players to this day.

“Fortunately for my generation, we worked while we were playing footy, whether that was good or bad … It probably was good; saved us from getting into a lot of trouble.

“We had no choice. We weren’t full-time; we were semi-professional. We played for enough money to get together a deposit to maybe get a house, and if you were fortunate you’d own that house at the end of your footy career.

“But now they’re earning ten times the money we were earning. So when that finishes, to go back to a $50-$60-$70,000–a-year job, when you’ve been on half a million, or even $300,000, it must be difficult for them. And a lot of them suffer.

“That’s when the other stuff comes into play like drugs and alcohol, gambling; it becomes a real issue. It’s not easy at all.

“As a player, I think you really miss that contact with people who have to get up every morning and go to work. Those communication skills, which many modern players can sort’ve miss out on until they finish playing their footy, are a valuable asset.

“I’m glad I played in the era that I did, to have had those skills for after my football finished.

“It’s an extremely important point to make that a lot of players suffer after their careers finish. Some don’t, but I think a lot of players do.

“Life after footy, you know? Your whole life for 15 years is playing football and then it comes to an end. Not everyone has a loving wife and a family, or maybe they do and they’re not really happy with it; they think they’re looking for more than they’ve got.

“It’s a tough transition. I’ve played with guys who have suffered from depression; you didn’t think too much about that sort’ve thing 30 years ago, but now obviously you do. Life after footy can be tough. A lot of guys say they really struggled because your whole life, from what you knew, is just finished.

“Then you have to invent a new life after footy, so you have to try and prepare for that. It’s a good life while you’re there, but then it finishes forever. That’s a hard transition for a lot of players.

“Another thing that’s changed over the years is loyalty; the loyalty these days is not like it was back in my era. There’s probably no loyalty now. Everyone’s use-by date is eventually up. Obviously you have to perform, but loyalty, people talk about it, but it’s not like it used to be back in the ‘80s.

“I only signed a one-year deal with the Magpies when I began playing in Sydney; in that era, if you signed and then all of a sudden didn’t want to play, or you wanted to swap codes and go and play rugby for a month in another country, that just didn’t happen. Once you gave your word, that was it.”

(Originally published as "My Finest Moment" - Inside Sport, May 2017.)