THIS is the story Anthony Watmough didn't want written - the one about him volunteering his time to help Sydney's homeless. Phil Rothfield reports
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IT'S 11pm, Monday, Darlinghurst Rd, King Cross.
A couple of prostitutes are on the prowl. This is the last place you'd want to bump into an NRL footballer preparing for the finals.
But tonight is not about beer, bourbon and bad behaviour, or nearby player haunts like the Sapphire Suite or Courthouse Hotel.
It's nothing like it. A van pulls up at Green Park, opposite the notorious wall on Darlinghurst Rd where Sydney's homeless are gathered, their desperation only visible from the soft moonlight on their faces.
They queue in the same spot every night, 365 days a year, to get a hot meal, a cordial and a cup of tea before finding a bench to curl up on.
Out jumps a big, thick-set man - Anthony “Choc'' Watmough, the Manly, Origin and Kangaroo second-rower, and a bad boy with a list of alcohol-related offences as long as the harbour bridge.
This is the story Watmough didn't want told. He is not into public relations because he's seen other villains like Todd Carney supposedly get rehabilitated but then fail to live up to it. I was tipped off by his coach Des Hasler back in April that the wayward second-rower was doing private volunteer and charity work.
Every request to do a story was rejected, so on Monday night we just went out to do it. He will not talk but his actions speak much louder than any words could.
Watmough arrives at Father Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets hostel at Marrickville at 9pm where they prepare the food and drinks.
He is reminded to keep to himself and not to initiate conversations with the young boys and girls who reside there, who have come from a variety of backgrounds and are likely to have been abused or have substance addictions.
A couple recognise Watmough and start talking footy while he's preparing dinner. Tonight's menu is a beef stew, spaghetti with sausages and Crispy Kreme doughnuts for dessert.
He and other volunteers load the food van at about 10.30pm for the drive across town to Darlinghurst.
About 30 homeless people, ranging in age from early teens to their 60s, are gathered on the side of the road and hanging out for a meal.
As soon as the van stops, they step forward to open a hatch on the side from where the food is served.
Anything to get their meals faster.
Watmough is inside in jeans, joggers, a sloppy joe and disposable white gloves preparing to serve. He looks anything but the footy hardman in the body-hugging Maroon jersey we see on the park each weekend.
Most of these desperate people have no idea the man who has prepared and is handing out their dinner is a $400,000-a-year State of Origin star.
“There you go champ, enjoy,'' Watmough says in that rough, ocker voice of his as he scoops beef stew into a small polystyrene dish.
“Here you go mate, take it easy buddy,'' he says to the next in line, a poor, sad kid who looks no older than 14.
He's later recognised by a couple of the homeless boys when he gets out of the van to hand out doughnuts.
Anonymous hero: Manly Sea Eagles Anthony Watmough helps the team from Father Chris Riley's Youth Of the Streets to feed homeless people at Green Park, Darlinghurst. Picture: Gregg Porteous
Source: The Daily Telegraph
He watches as a Salvation Army van pulls up 20m away to offer blankets.
This is so no longer the confident and often harsh Watmough we've come to know.
His facial expressions shift from a look of satisfaction in what he's doing to genuine sadness for these lives that have gone horribly wrong.
Watmough has two children of his own from a previous relationship. They live in Brisbane: a daughter Claudia, 11, and son Jake, 9
He is committed emotionally and financially to his ex-partner and raising the children in the best possible way. Claudia has just spent two weeks with him in Sydney.
“He would do anything for his kids,'' says one Manly official.
“He's a loyal, passionate and sometimes larger-than-life personality who people don't really understand. Above all, he will do anything for those that he cares about.''
Still, he's got that reputation as one of the most ill-disciplined players in the NRL.
Earlier this year, Watmough was hauled in by Sea Eagles management and told his $400,000 contract was headed for the paper shredder with one more misdemeanour.
There were reports his papers had been stamped â€never to play representative football again'', and only a private meeting with Hasler and NSW and Australian selector Bob Fulton at a Narrabeen coffee shop saved his rep career and helped turn his life around.
But there's still a long way to go.
The Sea Eagles star was recently back in the headlines when his hotel room was trashed after NSW's victory over Queensland in the second State of Origin game. The story was incorrectly reported.
Half a dozen Blues players had, in fact, returned to his room at about 3am. Boys will be boys and Choc will be Choc. A glass was dropped and broken, a player cut his foot and a drink was spilt on the carpet.
The NSWRL got a bill for professional cleaners and Watmough and four other players paid up. One Blues official told me it looked worse because Watmough's room-mate Anthony Minichiello sleeps with the mattress on the floor due to a back injury and it was still on the floor when they checked out.
His on-field discipline has started to improve. Fox Sports statistics show last year he was the most heavily penalised player in the competition. This season he's cut the penalties back by 30 per cent.
If you need further proof, jump on to YouTube and punch in “Manly v Storm Brookvale Brawl''.
Last year Watmough would have been the first to charge in throwing haymakers, but the video shows him acting as peacemaker this time, putting his big arms around Adam Blair and dragging him away from wild punches.
When the fight between Glenn Stewart and Blair resumed on the sideline, Watmough charged in - but only to pull Storm winger Matt Duffie away from the centre of it. It was another example of a changed man.
Anthony Watmough is certainly not perfect, but better for the experiences of the last six months. He's at least on the road to redemption.
And the homeless on the mean streets of Sydney have found a friend.
Follow Phil Rothfield on Twitter @BuzzRothfield
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/the-secret-redemption-of-anthony-watmough-on-the-streets-of/story-e6frexnr-1226137078386
