Raiders legend Blake Austin revealed he knocked back a lucrative extension with the club to take a cut-price deal with the Eels, before a sliding doors moment changed the course of his career.
The now 34-year-old sat down with Fox League’s Darcie McDonald on the Fox League Podcast to relive his career and revealed how different it might have turned out.
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After 43 tries in 122 NRL games, including 34 in 88 matches for the Raiders, Austin was given a lucrative extension with Canberra in 2018.
However, Austin admitted he wasn’t happy at the time and chose to take a deal with the Eels worth a quarter of the money, before fate stepped in.
“I knocked back an extension,” Austin told the Fox League Podcast with Darcie McDonald.
“I got offered a two-year extension to stick around on money that was really good money, a lot more money than I was going to get anywhere else at that point.
“I know in myself, I couldn’t take it. People will say this is bullcrap, but I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t coming home happy and I felt like I needed a change.
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“I’ve got a few screws loose as I think you need to be great, but you need to be happy off the field to be happy on the field.”
An inherent need to prove people wrong was what drove Austin throughout his career and forced him to take the challenge of going to the Eels after the 2018 season.
“I reckon a little bit of self sabotage,” Austin said.
“I was someone that was never really comfortable with being at the top. I never really sort of thought I deserved to be there. And I reckon I was ready to have another year like the Wests Tigers year.
“I was going to go to the Eels on a quarter of the money and I wanted to go and fight my way back out of a corner again.
“It’s the way my career went. I wasn’t great at staying at the top. I was really good at getting there and proving people wrong.
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“These are all the reflections you make on retirement and it’s lessons that you want to pass on.
“But I knocked it back. I was going to go to Paramatta on a one-year deal and that was going to be the big reset before I get another big deal after that.
“But then as it panned out, Warrington came in, I’d swore to my agent only a couple of months before that I was way too young for England and I wasn’t going to be going there.
“But Warrington made an offer that was pretty hard to refuse and that was the start of probably my most enjoyable five years of footy in my whole career.
“I absolutely loved my time there and I’m grateful for Warrington and Leeds, the two clubs that I played for.”
However, Austin didn’t tell the Raiders why he knocked back their offer.
But Austin credits his wife with putting his happiness ahead of the family finances and allowing him to switch to the Eels, before the Super League came calling.
“I think at the time there was a bit of a decision getting made around myself and Aidan Sezer,” Austin recalls.
“They were only willing to keep one of us. So no, I didn’t quite explain at the time. I certainly explained it after.
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“But I was due a change and I think a weaker person would have signed the contract and showed up unhappy and then dealt with it after that.
“But with knocking it back and talking to the Eels, it was bringing a lot of positives with it.
“I’d move back to Western Sydney. I’d be back where my mum and dad were, I’d get back involved in my junior club.
“And to my wife’s credit, she gave me the okay to make a terrible financial decision to make sure I’m happy.
“But as it pans out, I believe that if you do things true to yourself, things work out for you and I probably went to Warrington on a contract that put me in a better financial position.”
In what would be a bitter pill to swallow for anyone, Austin had to watch on as his old teammates made a charge to the 2019 Grand Final the season after he left.
However, Austin was too proud of his former teammates and friends to feel any bitterness or regret.
“You know what? I expected to feel a little bit bitter, but I had so many good friends there that I just wanted them to have success,” Austin said.
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“Aidan Sezer was my best mate, Josh Papalii’ had become my best mate. And there was just too many people in that team that I wanted to succeed.
“I actually watched the game on a pool bed in Tenerife, so not a bad place to watch the grand final.
“I think it was about 9.30 in the morning and I cheered them the whole way home. They were robbed. I don’t care what anyone says. The six again called definitely cost them and we shouted for them.”
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