Former NRL player Kane Evans has become just the second male player in Australian professional rugby league history to come out as gay, saying a weight has lifted from his shoulders.
In an emotional interview with Channel Nine's 100% Footy, the 131-time NRL player revealed he had struggled with addiction, suicidal thoughts, and homelessness as he grappled with his sexuality.
"I had three goals in life," Evans said. "And it was to play NRL, to buy my parents a house, and then I wanted to top myself, because I was living in denial from a young age. I know that I'm gay. But I went down every other avenue to sort of build up these walls. To be someone, to escape who I am."
Evans, who played for the Sydney Roosters, Parramatta Eels, and New Zealand Warriors, said former premiership player Joe Galuvao helped turn his life around. Galuvao, now with the Rugby League Players Association's past players and transition program, told Evans he deserved to live a good life and find healing.
"When he said that, that's when I started questioning, maybe death isn't in the plan for me yet. Maybe I do deserve to go and get help. I thank God that he came and visited me and got me into rehab with the help of the RLPA," Evans said.
Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson, who gave Evans his NRL debut in 2014, also provided crucial support. The three-time premiership-winning coach invited Evans to Roosters headquarters after he finished rehab and helped pay his rent.
"He called me just to let me know that the Roosters are still my home and they've got my back, whatever I'm facing," Evans said. "That meant the world to me. He took me, my best friend, and one of my mentors to Roosters HQ a week after I got out of rehab. He gave them the full tour and took us into his office and virtually told me that the Roosters are paying for my mental health. Robbo, out of his own money, paid four weeks of my rent as I had just gotten into a place that week."
Evans becomes the first men's professional rugby league player to come out since Ian Roberts more than 30 years ago. He celebrated four months of sobriety in May and hopes his story will encourage others to live truthfully.
"I've carried [hiding my sexuality] around my whole life," he said. "I'm here today to show people that you don't have to live like that. Even now I feel a bit more free, just by saying it out loud, I've brought it to the light. I've had people blackmail me. I've had people try to throw me under the bus, I've had people try to deflect their problems by trying to out me. And it just built up a lot of shame, and fear and guilt within myself. Now I've spoken about it, I've shattered all those chains. They've lost their power. I feel like coming and speaking to you today, fear, shame, guilt – all of that, I've cut ties with all that. I feel peace within, and I feel like a weight has lifted off my shoulders. I'm a bit proud of myself and when I look in the mirror, I'm going to smile now, not have those bad thoughts."
One of the NRL's most feared enforcers at his peak, Evans made his NRL debut with the Roosters in 2014 and played 74 games there before joining Parramatta in 2018. He played one season with the Warriors in 2021 and finished his professional career with English side Hull FC in 2023. Evans also played 13 matches for Fiji at international level.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
