FORMER Wallaby Pat McCabe knows too well the challenges life can throw at you.
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The 28-year old had his career cut prematurely short when a third neck injury in two years forced him to hang up the boots in 2014.
On Saturday the Brumbies and Wallabies utility back was the special guest speaker at Tamworth Rugby Club’s annual Headspace Day.
The day raises funds for the local branch of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation (Headspace), which aims to improve the wellbeing of young Australians.
“I think Headspace Day is a really important one for people to be open about going through hard times,” McCabe said.
Everyone faces hardships in different parts of their life.
For him that was injuries.
Known for his hard-running and hard-hitting style and toughness, McCabe was one of the key figures of the Wallabies’ epic quarter-final win over South Africa in the 2011 World Cup and was capped 24 times for the Wallabies before, after twice defying the odds to come back from a neck fracture, he made the decision to retire.
It’s been well-documented that the transition from the life of a professional athlete to a “normal life” can be hard to adjust to and McCabe admitted it was definitely a “shock and a change”.
“A lot of your life is wrapped up in something,” he said.
And then suddenly it’s not.
On Saturday he spoke at the special function after the game, after commentating on the Magpies’ clash with Scone with Prime sports reporter Sam Rains.
“I loved it. It’s probably the closest I’ve been to a game for a couple of years,” McCabe said.
“It was good to see two willing sides. It was pretty physical from both teams.”
And it was great to get back to club rugby.
“It’s where you start and when it all begins,” McCabe said, adding that it brings you back to why you started in the first place.
It was his first visit to Tamworth but he’d heard a bit about the area.
“I lived with (former Quirindi junior) Sam Carter for a couple of years in Canberra,” he said.
He flew up on the Friday night so missed his old side’s loss to the Blues.
“Maybe it was fortunate I didn’t get to see it,” he joked.
They were thrashed 40-5, putting their finals hopes in jeopardy, with the Waratahs sitting on equal points with them.
“I think it’s hard to say (who out of the two will top the Australian conference),” he said.
“For the Brumbies all they can control now is having a good win against the Force.”
He didn’t know then that the Waratahs were to be beaten by the Hurricanes, leaving them still level.