Devastating reason hero left Dragons

Kenny Kay September 05, 2020

Indigenous NRL hero Nathan Blacklock has made the bombshell revelation that he quit the St George Illawarra Dragons due to racism within the team.

Blacklock, who played with the Dragons between 1997 to 2004, told Nine NRL reporter Danny Weidler that his time at the club ended in heartbreak.

The former flying winger, known for celebrating his tries with backflips, revealed in Weidler's Sun Herald column that one person in particular was at fault.

"I've kept this secret for all these years," he said. "But the reason I lost my passion for the Dragons and left the club was because of racism. It came from the worst place possible – within our team environment.

"The vast majority of those I played with and was coached by were great – not a problem – but there was an element there that hurt me. I remember them talking about my good mate Preston [Campbell] and he would say, 'Get that little black c---'.

"That was like a dagger to my heart. I kept that pain to myself.

"The person who had the [racist] streak knows who it is. I don't know if he knows it drove me away from the club, but I saw him at a function recently and he couldn't look at me."

Blacklock left the Dragons for a stint with rugby union's NSW Waratahs in 2003, before returning to St George Illawarra later than year.

He played 137 games and scored 120 tries for the Dragons; telling Weidler that he did not speak up about racism earlier because, "I wanted to play first grade and didn't want the attention that speaking out then would have brought".