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Craigie's 'disappointing' career racked with gambling

Owen Craigie has opened up about his 'disappointing' career and the earnings he lost to gambling.

Arguably the greatest player of all time Andrew Johns said Craigie was the best junior footballer he had ever seen.

But on Sterlo on the Couch Craigie reflected on his 153 first grade games with Newcastle, Souths and the Tigers and opened up on the reasons there weren't more matches and a trophy cabinet full of gold.

Craigie's talent not enough. Pic: Getty
Craigie's talent not enough. Pic: Getty

It is a problem that has struck down a host of sportsmen over their lives, too much money and time, leading them into the world of gambling addiction.

He recalled one day, at just 28, two years after his NRL career had finished when he was at his lowest.

"I was rock bottom and I lost everything. Lost everything," Craigie said.

"The houses, the cars, the money. I remember one time there where I had about 60 grand in my bank and blew it in like five days on the punt, back in 2006.

"My gambling got way out of hand, where it controlled my life, it controlled everything about me.

"Gambling started when I was earning the big money, I had too much time on my hands. I was just hanging around the wrong crowd.

"When blokes were doing extras at training, I'd go down to the pub and I'd gamble … on anything. Horses, trots, greyhounds, whatever I could gamble on, really. That became my life for a lot of years and it just spiralled out of control from there."



It is a sad tale for someone who seemed destined for greatness.

He is still the only player to make the Australian schoolboys team three years in a row and still the youngest player to ever make his debut at Newcastle, pulling on the first grade jersey just past his 17th birthday.

When Sterlo asked what he thought about when looking back on a career that included a premiership with Newcastle in 1997 and 153 games Craigie knew he could have achieved so much more.

"Disappointing. Disappointing," Craigie said.

"There was a lot of years there where I played a couple of years in reserve grade, up and down, a couple of years I had knee injuries. There were times where other things affected me off-field and I didn't play.

"I look at my record now and think, 'I should be 200-plus (games), easy. I should've easily played a couple of rep games somewhere along the line'.

"When I reflect on it, if you want to look at the book of mistakes as a rugby league player, there should be a picture of me — all the dos and don'ts you can do in the game."