The rugby league season’s biggest tragedy is about to become one of the code’s greatest triumphs.
This weekend is the ‘Rise For Alex’ round in the NRL and in all the time I have covered the game, nothing has been more inspirational nor compelling than the concerted pull for injured Newcastle forward Alex McKinnon.
The 22-year-old backrower suffered a career-ending spinal injury in a tackle during the Round 3 clash with Melbourne Storm at AAMI Stadium.
McKinnon has spent the ensuing four months in intensive hospital care, fiercely determined to recover and one day walk down the aisle to marry his fiancée Teigan Power.
Alex’s story has been documented far and wide, but this weekend many new chapters will be added as the sport of rugby league unites to show him an extraordinary level of support.
The code’s administration has decreed Round 19 the Rise For Alex round, and the public rally for McKinnon has already triggered phenomenal support. The round will be as much a fundraiser as a show of support for the popular Knight.
It will be a weekend charged with emotion, both on and off the field, as the ginger-haired Aberdeen lad returns home to Newcastle and his beloved Hunter Stadium for the first time since he suffered the injury on March 24.
The game against the Gold Coast is a guaranteed sell-out. The Newcastle community has been waiting for this day to show McKinnon he is not alone in his brave rehabilitation battle.
At a packed media conference earlier this week, McKinnon said, “It’s going to be a slow and long process but I am willing to do that. I’m 22 and I’m going to give it my best shot.
“I’m there for a couple of days and it will be my first trip away from hospital in about four months, so I’m really looking forward to getting back and seeing family.
“I was even saying to my fiancée Teigan the other night, I just can’t wait to go back to my house.
“Even if I can’t get inside it, I just want to sit out the front, so it will be a good couple of days for me.”
Some of the money raised will help pay for modifications to Alex’s house so he can eventually return there.
“As much as I would love to get home and get back to my family and get back to Newcastle and get on with my life, I want to walk again,” he said.
“You see a lot of stories about people who get on with their life and don’t walk again. My focus is to get as much back of my movement as I can and I am slowly improving.
“For example when I first got diagnosed I was a C4, all that is shoulder movement. Nothing else. No fingers, no feeling in your legs, or anything like that. I am slowly progressing with the movement, I am a C7 now, which is three levels below my injury.”
McKinnon now has full head and neck movement with good muscle strength, good shoulder movement, partial finger movement, thumb movement and full elbow and wrist extension and flexion, which enables him to manage a manual wheelchair for short distances on flat surfaces and an electric wheelchair at other times.
The Rise for Alex round will see the code unite like never before. The NRL will donate one dollar to the Rise For Alex Fund for every fan who attends any match this weekend.
Fans can make donations by purchasing a RiseForAlex wristband, to be sold at all matches, online at riseforalex.org.au, or by texting RiseForAlex (0498 555 555).
But that’s only scratching the surface.
Channel Nine’s Footy Show, in partnership with Telstra, is holding a Telethon tomorrow night to raise funds for McKinnon’s ongoing treatment. Phone lines will open at 8.30pm with operators taking donations (1800 441 991).
The Daily Telegraph is generously donating one dollar for every paper sold on Saturday.
Around the NRL, there will be other notable shows of support.
Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston will wear a special No. 16 jumper in McKinnon’s honour, while St George Illawarra star Trent Merrin will auction the boots he wears in his milestone 100th game for the Dragons.
Before the Bulldogs versus Tigers game at ANZ Stadium on Sunday, the Wiggles will make a special live performance. NRL ticketed members and fans who buy a ticket to any NRL game this weekend will get free entry to the stadium as part of the fund-raising initiative for the Rise For Alex round.
Down through the years, league folk have been asked to dig deep for flood and fire victims at NRL games, but this weekend’s dedication to Alex McKinnon is going to be extraordinary.
History shows that the game is pretty good at giving itself black eyes, but this weekend I am delighted to predict rugby league will rise above everything for a champion young man who embodies all that is good about sport and life itself.
Faye Grave
Guest
They won’t insure people for sports like this. My teenage boyfriend was dumped in the surf at the age of eighteen and of course he had no insurance at that age but it was considered an act of God anyway - bloody hell- so he got nothing from anybody except his gorgeous friends and family. Such an awful time of life for us all. He passed away in 2004 from a heart attack at the age of 59.
Ben Southcombe
Roar Rookie
Well said Tim It's definitely a great initiative. And while it's been met with some scepticism, a few have described it as the NRL 'cashing in on a tragedy' because the initiative of donating $1 from every ticket sold will reap greater profits from increased crowd numbers. It is a bit odd that it's taken so long to come about given the incident occurred in round 3. But it's a step in the right direction.
Avon River
Guest
Well now. It was hardly a black eye. Were it only so minor. A rather overly glib phrasing both in the article and headline. In this case too highlights the difference between a freak accident and an occurance just waiting to happen due the nature of the rules and on this front the 'black eye' perhaps remains.
Andy
Guest
Not to mention the tele giving $1 from every paper sold - which will surely be an absurd (in a good way) amount of money.
PJB
Guest
Kingcowboy if that is in fact the case I take back what I have said.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
great initiative NRL.
c
Guest
you are correct jiggles an individual has had his life destroyed and it's disgusting
soapit
Guest
i tend to think that with a billion dollar tv deal some kind of insurance arrangement could have been made for the players but i'm also no expert
Parrafan
Guest
I think that's been done and dusted Emcie, after the Knights played Tigers in those flouro orange jerseys. I've got two jersey's an old Hardies 1983 long sleeve which has seen some wear, and a heritage round jersey from 2012. Membership fees are high enough without taking on $150 a season for 1 jersey.
Kingcowboy
Guest
In response to what your wrote PJB and someone please correct me if I am wrong, League players aren't able to get the insurance required due to their profession. The average Joe Blow is able to get the insurance and would receive a pay out in the event of a car accident which left someone in a wheel chair. Again I am not an expert on this matter.
Don
Roar Rookie
I agree with you re the Josh Reynolds tackle and a few others. Simply suspend them and make it so the only time a runner's legs are both off the ground in a tackle is if the initial impact is so hard and clean, it drives him off his feet. Then it is a good tackle. This stuff about first man being allowed to lift as long as he doesn't go beyond horizontal has already been shown to be dumb because by the very nature of one guy lifting another big guy things can and will go wrong. Also, if a player is lifted a second man should not be allowed into the tackle or he cops 10 in the bin. They keep using the second man as the reason things go wrong - simple - stop it. If that was the rule we wouldn't see anyone lifted. Same way we see the "cannonball" tackle outlawed. The 3rd man in can't hit below knees.
PJB
Guest
While I feel sorry for Alex, the reality is there are hundreds of Australians who become incapacitated via workplace accidents each year, however nearly all of them don't have the profile of Alex. Perhaps these organisation ( Fox, News Ltd, etc.... ) would be better off fun raising for all people crippled by these types of injury not the "lucky" one who happened to be a pro sportsman.
soapit
Guest
thanks tom (and tim), thats surprising, i would have thought there would have been insurance to be had but with high premiums to account for the risk involved. not ur standard policy for sure but surely the nrl could negotiate something.
blackstar
Guest
Reynolds getting off is the same reason John is an Immortal, it's who you know.
Emcie
Roar Guru
they do look pretty cool, but is it necessary for them to play in them? ...maybe someone should write an article about it, this thread's way off topic... lol
Emcie
Roar Guru
there should really be a limit on how many jerseys a team can have in one year...
Parrafan
Guest
Yeah do admit they look pretty cool Renegade. Apparently Hugh Jackman is a bit of a Manly fan and that played a role in going with Wolverine.
Renegade
Guest
AZ_RBB, Nope, just five of the seven clubs that are serviced by ISC. Cowboys, Eagles, Roosters, Dragons and Raiders.
david
Guest
Is there anything the NRL wont do for a little coin....
AZ_RBB
Guest
Is it for every club? If so, how many jerseys is that now for the Warriors? I think last season or the year before they wore about 6 different strips including every colour under the sun.