I'm sure by the time you guys wake up down under you might've seen the interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSktA9oLux4). Among other things, he comes out as gay.
I remember his stint at the Warriors after he left us being calamitous. He was in the bin every single game.
Makes sense now with the drinking and stuff.
Hope it all is better for him now.
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What a brave interview.
Best of luck to him now he can be himself couldn't imagine having to hide who you are for so long
Hope he finds some happiness and peace now.
Met him once at the 2018 fan day. Was a top bloke. As a footballer, he is the prototype in how a damaging Prop forward looks.
I do wonder if he was a case of playing the game cause they are good at it more than they love it.
But to be admit not only about his sexuality but the honesty about ending his life, it's brave.
Good on Trent Robinson too for reaching out and helping him.
Super, super brave and vulnerable of Kane to come out with this interview.
The fact that he's only the second openly gay NRL player after Ian Roberts 30 odd years ago shows how many young men he will be helping because statistically speaking there have been a heck of a lot more NRL players who probably haven't felt safe enough to do what Kane has and speak about it.
It's so sad that there's that much anguish that goes into just being able to be who you are. The poor bloke.
I hope he finds some peace and is able to live his life now, find love like all of us deserve. Sexuality is one tiny part of what makes us each who we are, we're not defined by it and it shouldn't ever cause us to hide away from the world.
Massive props to Kane - this would have taken a world of courage. And I hope everyone shows him that this ain't the 1950s anymore and he gets the support and acceptance he deserves.
I know of one former player who felt he couldn't come out during his career.
I hope more players are able to its naive to think only Kane and Ian Roberts are.
Aside from that to be open in his mental health battles is very strong and I hope he has nothing but peace now
I was a bit shocked when he mentions his move from the Roosters to Parra - not so much the part where he said it was for double the money he was on and Robbo told him to "go set his family up", but moreso the part where he said he immediately lost his way and started drinking because he didn't have the support and culture that he did at the Roosters.
In his words:
On the Roosters: "If you're not a quality person and a high performer then you don't fit into the club".
On the Eels: "Offered twice the amount of money" and "Not having the environment that I came from, I questioned everything...I started drinking a bit more".
I know a lot of this is Kane's individual story, but far out if we haven't heard this story before - that players come/came to us because we paid overs, and we didn't hold them to the standards they'd been held to at successful clubs.
Chris Sandow, Corey Norman, Dylan Brown come to mind immediately as all having gone off the rails to some extent whilst with us. And giving them more money is going to fix this? Crazy to think.
Feel sorry for the big fella that he felt he had keep it a secret during his playing days , but you can understand why with all of the sledging he would of got from rival players and rival bogan fans .
Not seen this until here. But Kane Evans' brave revelation is astounding for at least one reason: Ian Roberts came out in 1994 after delaying a 1990 announcement. Roberts was with Many at the time, and left them in 1996 for a for a final stint with Cowboys 1996-98.
But here we are in 2026, and Kane played 2014-2024 while obviously still thinking it unwise to come out as who he is.
Being LGBTQ is certainly less stigmatized now than in Roberts' era but Evans' story tells us that the battle to be accepted is still ongoing. LGBTQ in the public eye might be considered an extreme case, but ask any LGBTQ person and they will say that public acceptance massively lags private acceptance.
I think Kane has done a brave thing, but if would be great if nobody had to hide their sexuality.
We all love footy, but it can absolutely be a toxic culture and 'Coming out' would have put his career in jeapardy, so I really feel for him here and having to keep that in all these years.
Good on him for coming out and ejecting some of these internal demons he would have been shadowboxing.