Not Worth A Thread - Random Bulldog Discussion - Part 2

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SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2022 $3 (Inc GST) HERALDSUN.COM.AU

REMAKE FOR
LIFE OF BRIAN
Hawthorn triple premiership playerp p pp p y
Brian Lake has opened up on hisp p
mental illness, battles with alcohol
and stint in a Japanese jail, revealingp j g
that local football has played a bigp y g
part in recovering his health – andp g
his relationship with his family.
FULL STORY: PAGES 4-5, SPORT
Former AFL
star Brian Lake;
(below) with
wife Shannon.


TRIPLE premiership star
Brian Lake has revealed
the depths of his post-
career battle with
mental health and
alcohol issues, spurred on by
the end of his AFL career and
breakdown of his marriage.
Lake has spent time in a
Thai rehabilitation centre, two
stints in a Camberwell mental
health hospital – one of them
on his 37th birthday – and was
locked up in Japan after a bar
fight.
He also received a
community order for stalking
wife Shannon – with whom he
has now reunited – while they
were apart, and was warned
by a judge he would have been
jailed if he had previous
criminal offences.
“So you look through
those last few years, it’s
cost me a sh--load,”
Lake said this week.
“But it’s where I
have changed a
little bit, got
more
stability in
my life. But
I still need a
lot of work.”
The
Norm Smith
medallist told
the Herald Sun’s
Sacked podcast his
AFL retirement and
his break-up with
Shannon in 2018 led to
him losing all identity
and he began a
downward spiral.
As a footballer,
the star defender
was known for
his
instinctive,
or continuing his restoration
project on the club’s coaches’
box.
Shannon is a regular at the
club canteen.
Children Bailee, Cohen
and Mylee are never far from
the club.
“We are back together, it’s
been 18 months now, so a lot
of hard work had to go into it,”
Lake told Sacked of his
relationship with Shannon.
“Not just work on yourself
but work with psychologists
and marriage counsellors and
issues that we have had
individually and collectively.
“So it’s been very settling,
and the kids are in a good
space as well.
“I made a fair few mistakes
and I will put my hand up and
say, ‘Yeah, I did that’, but I
think people deserve a second
chance.”
Lake said he had been
keeping a low profile for the
past two years.
“It wasn’t easy to put your
hand up and say, ‘I need help’
because you can be in denial
for a fair period,” he said.
LAKE’S last football match
elevated him to the triple
premiership club. Already
the 2013 Norm Smith
medallist, Lake’s participation
in the 2015 grand final victory
made him part of the
Hawthorn hat-trick.
Two days after that clash,
Hawthorn told the dual All-
Australian it was letting him
go, ending a 251-game AFL
career comprising 197 games
at the Western Bulldogs and
54 at the Hawks.
And yet for all the
hospitality and business
courses he undertook as a
player, for the millions of
dollars he made across his
career, football and
relationships were his rock.
By July 2018 as his
relationship with Shannon
faltered and he searched for
meaning after football, he
spent seven weeks on reality
TV show Survivor, but arrived
back in Melbourne to the
news that would accelerate his
descent; his marriage had
broken down.
“With the transition out of
football you just feel a little bit
lost and you try to replace
footy because
footy has been
your
everything,”
Lake said.
“Within two
years you have
footy go – which was always
going to happen – and then
your relationship breaks
down, which have been the
two pillars of your life for 15
years.
“So with those two stripped
away, you are lying there
bare.”
Lake said football had
provided a false sense of
security, without which he
discovered he had little else in
his life.
impulsive moves. But he says
those traits hampered him
away from the bright lights of
the game.
Issues of abandonment and
rejection that he had felt for
some time – perhaps back to
childhood – fuelled anxiety
and insecurity he could
handle within the regulated
confines of an AFL club.
Through extensive work
with a psychologist,
medication and re-
establishing the pillars of his
life around family, work and
community football, Lake says
he is back on track.
But he knows he will
always have to work on his
mental health.
In a week in which former
St Kilda defender
Sam Fisher’s
transition out
of football and
into trouble
has been laid
bare, Lake said
his was a
cautionary tale.
Lake, 40, said
he had made big
mistakes but
believed he had
come a long
way since
his nights in a Japan
jail when he had no
regard for his
reputation or the
damage he was doing to
himself and those
around him.
The three-time
premiership player at
Hawthorn, can now be
found playing
football for
Caroline Springs,
EXCLUSIVE
JON RALPH
GLENN McFARLANE
STAR HAWK GOES FULL
TILT AT REDEMPTION
Local footy is Lake’s salvation
Wedding of
Western Bulldogs
footballer Brian
Lake to Shannon
O'Malley at
Pilgrim Uniting
Church, Flinders
Street, Adelaide.
Triple premiership player
Brian Lake and wife
Shannon on their wedding
day; (below) leaving court.


With two large gaps in his
life, Lake asked himself, “Who
am I as a person?”
“So I thought, stuff this, I’m
going to Bali. Then (ex-
Bombers player) Rick
Olarenshaw said we are going
to Japan for a footy
tournament. So, yeah, why
not? I am a free spirit.
“Then I had a heated
conversation on the phone
with my partner and it’s
Saturday night and you write
yourself off with alcohol, get
into an argument with a guy
in the bar, and you end up in
jail. But at that stage I didn’t
really care because I had lost
so much.
“I am sitting in a cell and I
don’t really care about
anything at that stage, and
people say, in poker terms,
you are on tilt. I was on tilt
(making costly mistakes) –
nothing really fazed me.
“Are you worried about
your image? Nothing fazed
me, that was my mindset.
“You are going over there
spending money and then you
have lawyers, but I didn’t
care.”
APHOTO of Lake using
white powder in October
2018 led to the Thai rehab
trip, followed by his twin trips
to the Camberwell rehab
centre.
Hawks officials Jeff
Kennett and Graham Wright
were among his visitors in
that centre as he took the first
steps to turn his life around.
And finally, after so many
futile attempts from those
around him to help, the
counselling and advice he
received in those places began
to resonate.
“When (your psychologist)
starts talking about certain
things it starts to make sense
now,” he said.
“The jigsaw starts coming
together, and you can
understand why you are like
this. Impulsivity is one of the
biggest things I have struggled
with and it’s great in
sportspeople, but it didn’t help
me with outside stuff.
“I remember I fought
against the medication side of
it, but I had issues as far back
as 2013.
“I was missing sessions
because I didn’t take my
medication for two or three
days and I was getting light-
headed and dizzy and couldn’t
function.
“I found Survivor easy
because you take all the
stresses of work and paying
bills away, but as soon as I left
those places that’s when the
hard work happens.”
Lake says he still has bad
days, but keeps referring to a
list of identified triggers he
has to work on.
“It’s a constant battle, but
then you make sure you have
got good people around you
that understand those triggers
you have got, and can help
you out.”
Lake’s Caroline Springs
team, coached by ex-Magpie
Brodie Holland, is on top of
the Western Region Football
League’s division 1 ladder.
Last week Lake was thrown
forward and kicked eight
goals, and yet the weekly
routine is as important as the
on-field suburban heroics.
“I’ve been renovating the
coaches’ box,” Lake said. “If
it’s painting the 50m arcs or
doing stuff at the footy club ...
it’s my time.”
Lake also works for good
friend Matt Sutton’s business
Weldco, doing welding
compliance.
“You work nine to five
and that’s my release,” he
said. “I can finish work and
clock off for ‘Brian time’,
going to the local footy
club. Playing it, coaching it,
doing the level 3 (coaching
course) with AFL Victoria,
it’s something I will move
into.
“I would love to be in
football full time, but
unfortunately when you
make a few mistakes it is hard
to get back into that area.
“It’s why I threw
everything back into local
football because it’s where I
am going to be for the next
15, 20 years ...
“You put yourself on the
line and people say, ‘What do
you do it for?’ I don’t know
why I keep doing it – 40 years
old and when I finish I will
have to move on to something
else, but footy has been my life
since I started at the age of 11.
“I have to do something
different but I can’t.
“I love football.”

jon.ralph@news.com.au
LIFE OF BRIAN, PAGES 88-89
Brian Lake with his 2013
Norm Smith Medal; (right)
on Survivor; and (main) at
Caroline Springs Football
Club. Picture: Michael Klein
I am sitting in a cell and I don’t
really care about anything at that
stage, and people say, in poker
terms, you are on tilt. I was on
tilt (making costly mistakes)
BRIAN LAKE
 
Nice expose about cryptocurrency on 4 Corners just now
Seems not a great idea to have a sponsorship from these guys

 
Nice expose about cryptocurrency on 4 Corners just now
Seems not a great idea to have a sponsorship from these guys

Anyone concerned about this?
 

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You dont know what you've missed until he takes an extended break for personal reasons.

Back on track. Today. Back in the team. Soon.

287077516_10159806808062487_1874409570815516313_n.jpg
 
I ordered a Lucky Meal for today - force of habit. :p

SUPER SUPREME
Napoli Sauce, Ham, Mushroom, Hot Salami, Bacon, Olives, Onions, Cheese, Capsicum, Pineapple & Prawn

It's from the same place I ordered from when we lost to Adelaide, but I think we're safe this week. Well, maybe not Bailey Smith. :(
 
I have a family holiday on the Gold Coast next week (family of four).

I'm currently weighing up the cost between care hire and getting around on public transport. My enquiries reveal there is a 'go card' which seems to work the same as a Myki card in Victoria.

I've not yet been able to find out the cost of each trip (I.e. travelling from Broadbeach to the theme parks). Does anyone know how much these trips cost?
 
I have a family holiday on the Gold Coast next week (family of four).

I'm currently weighing up the cost between care hire and getting around on public transport. My enquiries reveal there is a 'go card' which seems to work the same as a Myki card in Victoria.

I've not yet been able to find out the cost of each trip (I.e. travelling from Broadbeach to the theme parks). Does anyone know how much these trips cost?
You can get to Sea World fairly easily by tram from Broadbeach to Surfers then a bus. TRANSLink QLD operates a bus from Ferny Ave at Palm Avenue to Sea World every 20 minutes. Tickets cost $3 - $4 and the journey takes 10 min. (From Google)

Your accommodation should be able to advise the best way to get to Dreamworld and Movie World. You can get to Currumbin Sanctuary by bus.

Don’t get a car unless you want to travel further afield. The traffic and parking have been horrific since the state opened up. But of course, a car gives you greater flexibility and can carry all your stuff.
 
I have a family holiday on the Gold Coast next week (family of four).

I'm currently weighing up the cost between care hire and getting around on public transport. My enquiries reveal there is a 'go card' which seems to work the same as a Myki card in Victoria.

I've not yet been able to find out the cost of each trip (I.e. travelling from Broadbeach to the theme parks). Does anyone know how much these trips cost?

As someone who has done many family trips to the Gold Coast, I used to hire a car to get from the airport to my accommodation. I would then use the car the next day to go to the one of theme parks at Oxenford. (Movie world, Dream-world and White Water World) as it would take you at least an hour on the public bus. I then return the car to the car hire in Broadbeach.

As for Seaworld, you can catch a direct bus that will take about 40 minutes.

You can do the reverse on your 2nd last day. Pick up a car in Broadbeach and drive out to the theme park and then return it to the airport the next day.

It all depends on how long you are staying there for. Are you going up to Brisbane to watch the Dogs
 
As someone who has done many family trips to the Gold Coast, I used to hire a car to get from the airport to my accommodation. I would then use the car the next day to go to the one of theme parks at Oxenford. (Movie world, Dream-world and White Water World) as it would take you at least an hour on the public bus. I then return the car to the car hire in Broadbeach.

As for Seaworld, you can catch a direct bus that will take about 40 minutes.

You can do the reverse on your 2nd last day. Pick up a car in Broadbeach and drive out to the theme park and then return it to the airport the next day.

It all depends on how long you are staying there for. Are you going up to Brisbane to watch the Dogs
Think I'll pass on the footy.

Initially this was the plan but with two young children we have decided to avoid going to the match. If it was a day match, or even if we were staying in Brisbane, I reckon we'd end up going
 
As someone who has done many family trips to the Gold Coast, I used to hire a car to get from the airport to my accommodation. I would then use the car the next day to go to the one of theme parks at Oxenford. (Movie world, Dream-world and White Water World) as it would take you at least an hour on the public bus. I then return the car to the car hire in Broadbeach.

As for Seaworld, you can catch a direct bus that will take about 40 minutes.

You can do the reverse on your 2nd last day. Pick up a car in Broadbeach and drive out to the theme park and then return it to the airport the next day.

It all depends on how long you are staying there for. Are you going up to Brisbane to watch the Dogs
We went to the Gabba in 2019 by train. Too difficult to park there. We lost, and I had a huge bald guy sitting in front of me who leapt up cheering every time the Lions got a goal, which seemed to be every 2 minutes :huh: . We were also packed in, about 10 rows back on the lower level and couldn't see the far side of the ground where all the play seemed to be. I haven't bothered going up there since (now that we can).

But for anyone going, there's a supporters' meet-up at the Norman Hotel at 5pm on match day, not far from the Gabba. Very nice pub, great meals.
 

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