In the latest instalment of a special series on retiring NRL stars sponsored by Hostplus, we talk to former Dolphins and Storm captain Jesse Bromwich, who is looking forward to building a new life after football.
A game day morning sleep in and a battle against his nerves are the only thing Jesse Bromwich will miss now that he’s retired from the NRL.
“I'll look back and I think the only thing I'm going to miss might be game days,” Bromwich said.
“For people that don't know, game day starts in the morning when you wake up, you can sleep in as long as you want, the ‘missus’ and the kids don't really wake you up and you have a pretty relaxing sort of day heading into the game.
"Then, I think I'm going to miss the nerves before the game. I don't know if you can get that anywhere else in life.
“That's the biggest part I'm going to miss.”
The Dolphins inaugural skipper officially bowed out from his record-breaking career in Round 27 with his side unable to clinch their maiden finals berth, but with 338 NRL games under his belt, plus more appearances with New Zealand and the Māori All Stars, there was not much more left for him to achieve.
A captain at the Storm before he was approached by supercoach Wayne Bennett to help establish and lead the NRL’s newest team, Bromwich jumped at the chance to be part of history, despite others seeing it as a risk, given the life and playing reputation he had established in Melbourne.
“I wouldn't call it a risk really, it was something that I really wanted to do,” Bromwich said.
“I was excited more at the fact of being an inaugural player, being someone that starts a club.
“I'd heard so many stories at Melbourne about all those guys before us who had gone ahead and done what we were hoping to do and how highly everyone talked about them.
“I just wanted to be one of those guys and the way it's worked out, it's been outstanding really to come up here and start the club off.”
Joining him in making the move to the Redcliffe Peninsula was younger brother Kenny, who has played a key role in him having a career in the NRL.
As the well-told story goes, initially it was Kenny who was signed up for an NRL opportunity, before Jesse was invited to have a run as well as he waited for his brother on the sidelines.
“For me the way it worked out was a little bit of a different story compared to everyone else, I didn't get a start until I was about 19,” Bromwich said of how his football career came about.
“(Then Melbourne assistant coach) Brad Arthur gave me a start, he saw me sitting on the stands one day and told me to chuck the boots on and come for a training session and after that session, asked if I could play that week.
“I've been very lucky that (Kenny and I have) been together throughout our careers, together the whole time.
“The thing is, we moved away (to join the Dolphins) and his family moved up as well and our partners get on great.
“We've both got kids, so it's awesome to have someone that you know that closely and come around with you everywhere and share the same experiences.
"We've gone and done some pretty amazing things together; playing in grand finals, going over to England and playing Kiwis games, going back home and performing there.
“Honestly, it's been a bit of a dream.”
While football was always a goal, Bromwich has also been kept busy off the field with a carpentry apprenticeship which he hopes to complete soon so he can finally get some ‘home renos’ done with his new-found time.
“I think it was about 2015, we had a few guys come in and talk about trying to get a trade under your belt while you're playing footy,” Bromwich said.
“I think the average footy player only plays 44 games ... and it caught my attention straight away.
“I'm not really good at sitting in an office all day; I have to be outside to work, I can't be sitting in offices, so something that I enjoy.
“It was something that I always thought about as a kid (to be) my Plan B to try and get a trade under me and the chance came and I jumped at it.
“There was about four or five of us that went for it, me, Ken, Felise [Kaufusi] and Will Chambers was there as well, we all jumped in and started it.
“Obviously COVID was a very hard time for us, for everyone in Australia, all over the world, but for the trade industry, you couldn't get out and do anything.
“So, for those two-three years, we shut it down and then it's been really good up here, I picked it up (again) and am working with a group out in Morayfield at the moment. I'll finish off my apprenticeship and I'll see where that takes me.”
Family and catching up on lost time is a huge part of Bromwich’s future as well and while he said his kids were more upset about his decision to hang up the boots than he was, he was looking forward to now supporting their sporting endeavours.
“I have been lucky that my kids have been able to grow up and watch a lot of my career, I think they're taking it a little bit harder than what I am,” Bromwich said.
“But everything good comes to an end sometime.
“The thing that I'm most looking forward to is just having weekends back, my kids all play sports, so I've missed out a heap of that travelling. I've missed out on a heap, but we've gained so much from the footy career and all of this.
“But that's the thing I look forward to the most, having my weekends back with my kids and my family.”
