BY JOHN DAVIDSON
“I do all this for my family. I try and be a good role model and I want to follow in my Dad’s footsteps and accomplish what he was able to accomplish – that’s the goal.”
Having a famous father in sport can be both a privilege and a burden, and Ethan O’Neill knows this all too well. His father Julian was a bona fide star of the 1990s and 2000s in both Australia and England, a two-time premiership winner with the Brisbane Broncos, a Queensland State of Origin representative and a Challenge Cup winner with Wigan.
Names don’t get much bigger in rugby league in either hemisphere.
But Ethan has been out to make a reputation for himself this year in Super League. After coming through the South Sydney and Brisbane systems, and playing for the Burleigh Bears in the Queensland Cup, the 25-year-old joined Leigh at the start of this season.
After nine appearances for the Leopards the second-rower has caught the eye, crossing for three tries and averaging 35 tackles, 69.8 metres and 11.8 carries per game. The Leopards are riding high – third on the ladder and on Sunday they take on Warrington in the Challenge Cup semi-finals.
For O’Neill, who grew up in both Maroubra and in Widnes, representing his state as a teenager, his whole life has revolved around making it as a professional rugby league player.
“I’ve been playing football since I was four or five years old,” he tells rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.
“Football has been with me my whole life and I love doing what I’m doing.
“I’ve always been around it so it’s just meant to be. I love it.
“We moved over here to the UK when I was three. I played some junior footy over here with the Halton Farnworth Hornets, I played with them for three years. So that’s allowed me to be under the quota and come over here in the first place. I went to school here as well, we lived over in Widnes.”
A rangy second-recover with dyed blonde hair, who can break a tackle and gets through a mountain of work each game, O’Neill has taken to Super League like a duck to water.
“I feel like I’ve adapted really well and I’ve taken the opportunity with both hands,” he says.
“We’re a new team, there was a big turnover of players and we had 12 new signings this year. We’ve all integrated well and we’re always hanging out with each other. The vibe’s good and that’s showing on the field.
“I feel like this is only the beginning and we’re just getting started. The sky’s the limit with us and if we all buy in, which we are, we can achieve anything.
“It’s a big month of footy coming up. We’re prepared to go up against anyone. I don’t see why we won’t go well in the weeks to come. I’m confident in the team how we’ve been training and how we can perform on game-day.”
Twenty-three years ago his father Julian, a five-eighth and fullback in his day, was part of the Wigan side that beat St Helens 21-12 in the Challenge Cup final at Murrayfield. Ethan would love history to repeat itself, with another O’Neill winning the famous trophy.
“It would be awesome. I’ve been manifesting to win the Challenge Cup and get there as well. It would be a good little father-son thing that we can share with each other.
“My Dad’s trying to come here to see that game, so I’m trying to time it well. That would be a really good memory for us if he’s here watching me turn dreams into reality.”
Julian was a naturally gifted Sydney-born sportsman who first burst onto the scene with Wayne Bennett’s Broncos in 1991. He would go on to have stints with London, Widnes, the Western Reds, Souths, North Queensland, Wigan, Widnes and Leigh, as well as earning a cap for Australia during the Super League war in 1997.
Ethan says he his father has a massive impact on his career.
“I always look to him in times of need, whether I need some advice or he’s critiquing my game because he just wants me to be the best player that I can be on and off the field,” Ethan explains.
“He always critiques me on being a good club person – working hard and doing all the one per centers and everything will fall off the back of that. He’s been a really big part helping me to get where I am.
“He always uplifts me, but he’s a harsh critic but a good one. I really admire that in him and appreciate it.”
Known for his try-scoring, playmaking and goal-kicking exploits, Julian O’Neill also had a chequered past off the pitch. He was involved in a number of alcohol-fueled incidents and was released by London because of a drink-driving episode and by the Reds for off-field issues.
In 1999 he was involved in an infamous drunken incident on the Rabbitohs’ pre-season tour, then six years later while with the Vikings he was accused of drunkenly attempting to set fire to a 13-year-old boy who was wearing a foam-rubber dolphin mascot suit whilst on a river cruise in Port Macquarie.
“Everywhere I go and people who know rugby league and know my Dad all say the same thing,” Ethan says.
“The media have their own point of view of what my Dad is, but people that actually know him say he’s a real genuine person and he’s a real caring, down-to-earth person who loves to be around people and has a dry sense of humour.
“He’s just a real kind, genuine bloke. He made his mistakes and what not, but that doesn’t paint a picture of who he actually is.
“He always tells me as soon as he crossed that white line he always played the best football he could – no matter what was going on on the outside. He always gave 150%, that’s the sort of bloke he is.”
Father and son share a strong bond.
“I’m always Facetiming him two, three, four times a week,” Ethan explains.
“He’s always telling me to be smart about certain things and look after my body, don’t listen to outside noise and when I cross that white line give it my all.
“He just tells me not to be silly. He knows I’m not that sort of person and so he doesn’t really need to tell me about that, because I’m not the sort of person to go out and about and make a fool out of myself.
“So he doesn’t really critique me on that, it’s more about football and what clubs look for.
“My mum brought me up pretty well so she’s done a good job being the sort of person I am today.”
While Julian O’Neill achieved everything possible in rugby league, he has done it the hard way with a life marked by several tragedies. His mother, Ethan’s paternal grandmother, was killed in a car crash when Julian was seven and his father died of heart disease just a year later.
O’Neill was raised by his grandparents and other family members, and attended boarding school from the age of 10. But tragedy then struck again, in 2001. His 13-month-old daughter, Ethan’s sister, was sadly killed when a television set fell onto her in the family’s home in an accident.
“I never got to meet my grandparents, and that also shows the sort of bloke my Dad is,” Ethan says.
“He’s very resilient and he doesn’t show his emotions very easily. But to be able to lose your parents at such a young age and to be able to accomplish what he did accomplish is a credit to him, and what sort of bloke he is.
“The tragedy about my sister, that still haunts him and my mum especially.
“He doesn’t really like to talk about it, he tries to lock it away and block that out because it was such a pivotal part in all our lives and a very emotional part. He’s a very resilient person my Dad.”
Ethan hopes his sister and grandparents are watching down on him as he takes the field at the Totally Wicked Stadium this weekend.
A win over Warrington would book a spot at Wembley and a chance to replicate his father’s Cup success.
“It would be very special. Me and my Dad talk about making memories all the time.
“From where I’ve come from in the last four years to now has been a rocky road but it’s been a journey that I pride myself on and my Dad’s been there every step of the way.
“We always talk about the hard work that I’ve put in and when it comes to that moment I think all that hard work and all those tough times will be for a good reason. It would be an emotional moment when, not if, we lift that trophy up.”
