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Rugby League Legend Steve Mortimer Opens Up On Battles With Dementia

Rugby League Legend Steve Mortimer Opens Up On Battles With Dementia

The Canterbury great says his illness is "absolutely" related to the head knocks he sustained during his playing days.

Max Sherry

Max Sherry

Steve Mortimer has revealed that he has been diagnosed with dementia, but admits he has been struggling with the awful disease for some time now.

It seems the conversation surrounding head knocks and concussions within rugby league is more prevalent than ever with the NRL's recent clamp down on high tackles sparking debate even further.

Now Mortimer - a rugby league legend with well over 250 first grade games to his name - has urged people to understand and support the NRL's stance, citing his own history of concussions as living proof that this issue is genuinely serious.

"I said, 'you have just got to forget all these people who are against you'," Mortimer told The Daily Telegraph regarding a conversation he had with NRL chair Peter V'landys.

Wiki Creative Commons

"And these blokes who want to stick it up Peter V'landys or whatever have got no bloody idea.

"I believe I am (doing alright). No one wants me to be a commentator now and that is all. I respect that. I am fine.

"But I do have part of my brain that has died from playing the game of rugby league."

And when the Canterbury great was asked whether the head knocks he suffered during his playing days had anything to do with the disease, he simply replied: "Absolutely. Absolutely."

Steve Mortimer.
NRL

64-year-old Mortimer was diagnosed with dementia back in March but believes he has been battling with the illness ever since his retirement from professional sport.

"When we were playing it was OK," he told Channel 10.

"Playing grand finals or State of Origins, or playing for your country, it's great. You don't think about it. But now that we're sitting down and having a talk about it, it gives you a chance to have a real good think about where my brain is going.

"I can't think of things. I used to be able to talk better on TV. I go on thinking, 'Ahh, Ahh'... and forgetting a person's name."

Featured Image Credit: NRL / Wiki Creative Commons

Topics: Concussion in sport, Rugby League, nrl, Australia