'Didn't care about me': Axed NRL veteran lashes former club

Former Brisbane Broncos veteran Jack Bird has taken a potshot at his former club, who allowed him to switch to St George Illawarra for the 2021 NRL season despite him signing a four-year deal in 2018.

Bird was given permission to join the Dragons despite having one year left to run on his contract having endured an injury-plagued tenure in Brisbane.

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The 25-year-old played only 17 games for the Broncos after suffering two separate season-ending ACL injuries - but this didn’t stop him from firing a broadside at his former employer on Thursday.

Speaking to media on Thursday, Bird said by the end of his time in Brisbane he felt like he was a ‘burden’ on the Broncos and that he was only there ‘for the sake of it’.

“At the end, I felt like a burden there. Like I was just there for the sake of it,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“I felt like they weren’t putting their time and effort into me, my rehab. I felt like I was just another number, they were pushing me to the side, they didn’t care about me.

“So in the end, I knew if I wanted to get back to my best I had to move. Go to someone who was willing to put their time and effort into me getting back to my best.”

The 25-year-old said although he’d been told by senior staff, including new head coach Kevin Walters, that he was wanted at Red Hill, Bird said he couldn’t shake the feeling he was surplus to requirements.

“I knew they didn’t want me there,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Kevvie was saying he wanted me there, but I got a feeling he didn’t.”

Dragons coach keen to see Jack Bird on the field

Recently appointed St George Illawarra coach Anthony Griffin said the club was looking to provide Bird with substantial physical and mental support in a bid to get him back on the field in 2021.

Last week, Griffin told Fox League that the club was prioritising simply getting Bird back on the field before worrying too much about where he will play.

Bird has openly said he is keen to play at lock, the starting spot usually held by Jack de Belin, who is out indefinitely under the NRL’s no-fault stand down policy as he awaits an April retrial over sexual assault charges.

Griffin said the Dragons wanted to simply see him on field before putting any positional pressure on their new recruit.

“We really need to care for him over the next six months. He will have some mental and physical challenges to get back to his best,” Griffin said.

“And until he’s comfortable playing again, I don’t see a real need to say ‘look we are going to play him here or there’- I just want to see him play.”

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