Mental health check – Mose Masoe

Mose Masoe has one of the most infectious smiles and positive attitudes in the Rugby League world.

He was in the best physical shape of his career, following a gruelling preseason he was ready for a big season, but all that was brought to an abrupt end when on 12 January 2020 he suffered a career-ending spinal cord injury that left him with partial or total loss of use of all four limbs and torso.

ProstRL caught up with Mose back home in Australia to discuss his career and injury.

Mose began playing at the age of thirteen for his local team Randwick Kingfishers with two of his friends dragging him along and from that day he was hooked.

In 2014 he signed for St Helens; he struggled with the early days as he had to leave his 5-year-old son behind due to visa issues. He praises St Helens and the support they showed him during his time.

“St Helens were so accommodating and helpful, even going to the immigration court to try get my son over I really enjoyed our time there, but my son was a big driving force to get back to Australia”

After a dominant year in the UK, He returned to Australia where he signed for St George Illawarra Dragons. However, an ACL injury kept Mose out for the entire 2016. He said that this was a tough one to take.

“It wasn’t your straightforward nine month return as well and I had a lot of complications, needing another two surgeries to try to fix it. But I still wasn’t close to where I needed to be physically and mentally. In saying that I wasn’t mature enough to deal with it, having three surgeries in a year and all these high expectations on myself, I was in a dark place. St George had all the support network there available, but I didn’t take it on board. That was a massive lesson and turning point in my life”

Mose was released from St George, and when he received a call from Tim Sheens, he just couldn’t say no. Although his knee was not right, he was excited about the new challenge. He quickly became a fan favourite at Craven park when he was part of the squad that gained promotion back into the Super League, which was up there with the greatest achievements of his career. He reflects on his time in front of the fans and has nothing but praise.

“Playing in front of Super League clubs/fans is something special, and nothing compares to playing in front of the East stand. Seven thousand sounds like you’re playing in front of seventy thousand. Their support makes a massive difference home and away”

Speaking about his injury in January 2020, on what was a freak injury, he initially thought he had knocked himself out until he realised there was something seriously wrong.

Although the initial diagnosis wasn’t the best and was told he may never walk again. When he asked if there was a chance he could, he received an unconvincing yes, but a chance was a chance and for the first time he had hope and that spurred him on in his recovery.

His biggest lesson in recovery was to accept the injury for what it was and to move forward and treat everything as recovery. Although he had hard days, he was overall in a good place

“My mental health was good because I was hanging onto the slight chance that I would walk again”

Support for Mose came from everywhere, he had his teammates, the club, along with all of the over clubs and players. He found talking to them daily would really lift his spirits. It got him into a mentality that he didn’t want to let them down. He also found solace in the company of patients during his time in Pinderfields hospital.

During his darkest times, he says he has learnt to take it on board, assess it, deal with it, and keep moving forward.

Mose has been fortunate to receive help from the rugby league benevolent fund from the beginning. Initially, his top insurance would not cover a year of care that would provide full-time carers, adaptations, and equipment etc) he hopes this can be changed in the future.

“Being the first time its happened to a professional player in the UK I hope its looked into. I understand paying higher premiums will cost the game a lot more but there needs to be something else to help the players if this or other bad injuries happen in our game in the future”

For more details on how you can donate to the benevolent fund to support players please visit www.rflbenevolentfund.co.uk

His wife has been the driving force throughout his recovery. Carissa was six months pregnant when he came out of hospital and it was a massive adjustment for everyone. Also being in full lockdown took its toll but they made it through.

“Carissa takes a lot on. Looking after the kids, keeping the house in order, being my carer and everything else – I don’t know how she does it”

At the moment he is still in quarantine back in Australia but is looking forward to being together with his son for the first time in three years and says the future is looking bright.

He still has a long rehabilitation road ahead of him with physiotherapy, but he is looking forward to the new chapter in his life.

Mose will be missed in the UK but is thankful for the support he has received along the way