Former rugby league player Joe Kilroy has been nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame after serving time in prison for drug offences. Smokin’ Joe was once called the world’s best fullback and played in the inaugural Brisbane Broncos team in 1988, but had his league career cut short.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern-day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while NRL player Talatau Amone is the most recent recipient.
The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame honours former players and players who received media attention in previous seasons, for similarly scandalous behaviour, and its inductees include Ben Cousins and Julian O’Neill.
Kilroy was sent to Wacol Correctional Centre in 1989 after he and his wife Debbie were caught selling drugs to undercover police. Joe spent three years in prison and likened the experience to the BoysTown facility in Beaudesert, which he was sent to as a child and where he regularly suffered abuse.
Kilroy displayed enormous talent and it was enough to win him a place in the original Broncos team and the successful Queensland State of Origin team in 1998. However, his prison sentence ruined his career and he only played one more game for the Broncos upon his release from prison in 1991.
Smokin’ Joe will find out later this year if he has done enough to earn a place in The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 