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PRENTICE: Knights folk still rising high for their man Alex
Tim Prentice
Expert
25th November, 2014
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Alex McKinnon has announced his intention to sue. (Digital Image Grant Trouville © nrlphotos.com )
Tim Prentice
Expert
25th November, 2014
4

There were a number of rugby league topics worthy of comment in the past week.

These included Shane Flanagan’s blunt refusal to discuss the ASADA aftermath, a newspaper poll showing that fans don’t rate the NRL heads of state, and news that there is likely to be a serious bid for a second New Zealand club/a>.I elected to sidestep them all after coming across a feel-good story in The Newcastle Herald.

Penned by senior sportswriter Brett Keeble, the article spoke warmly of a major fund-raising function held on Saturday night for injured Newcastle forward Alex McKinnon. It was held at St Joseph’s High School at Aberdeen, McKinnon’s home town in the Upper Hunter.

It was a swanky black-tie affair entitled ‘Aberdeen’s All For Alex’, who suffered a career-ending spinal injury in a club game against Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park on March 24.

Approximately 500 people rolled up for the special dinner but McKinnon could not appear as Guest of Honour because of on-going treatment at a special rehab centre on the Gold Coast.

The function was held two weeks after a star-studded rugby league game was played at nearby McKinnon Oval. Monies from both functions are still being calculated but for spinal care patients, every $100,000 raised releases enormous pressure.

Keeble reported that former Knights coach Wayne Bennett was a key speaker at the dinner, which was attended by a number of his former teammates, rugby league luminaries, and McKinnon’s family and friends.

Bennett called McKinnon straight after the dinner.

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“Wayne said I should be very happy and proud of where I come from,” McKinnon told The Newcastle Herald. “And he said the committee put on an unreal show and everyone enjoyed it.

“I am very proud of where I come from and have been my whole life. In hindsight, I’m kinda glad I wasn’t there; I think I would have felt very uncomfortable.

“But I am looking forward to seeing the people and all my family and friends who put in the hard work. When I go back for Christmas in Aberdeen, I’m really looking forward to being able to thank them personally.”

McKinnon said his fiancée, Teigan Power, had been with him for the past six weeks at the rehab facility.

He said he had noticed “small improvements” in his rehabilitation process.

“The rehab’s been good but the best thing about the whole thing is I got to spend six weeks with Teigan. Even if I haven’t improved a great deal physically, I think I have mentally, and our relationship is a lot better from being up here.”

The tragic injury to McKinnon in a three-man tackle was clearly the low point of season 2014 but the rugby league community rallied magnificently to raise funds for his future life.

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The Newcastle club has promised him a job for life and Ms Power, whom he met four years ago and proposed to from his hospital bed, is proving to be a tower of strength.

“We’re not dwelling on the injury,” the primary school teacher said in a July interview. “He’s the same person, he has the same personality.”

So there you have it. Not a lot has been written about McKinnon in recent months – most rugby league stories have been more negative than positive – and it’s heartening to learn that the support for him has not wavered a fraction.

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