NRL great Bryan Fletcher has spoken out about the bizarre medical treatment he received after suffering a serious surfing injury while on holiday in Indonesia.
In light of current soccer stars Reece Walsh and Toby Rudolf’s recent surfing mishaps in Bali, Fletcher has spilled the beans on his own wild adventure.
The former Roosters star was on a surfing holiday at Telo Island off the west coast of Sumatra when he cut his foot while trying to get back on a boat.
Fletcher’s injury was serious and required stitches, and luckily help was not far away.
“There was a team of doctors in a nearby house, which was perfect,” he said. SEN.
‘The guy was a neurosurgeon, but my colleagues didn’t let him do it until after dinner when he was blind (drunk). They were giving him tequila and he couldn’t even stand up.
Bryan Fletcher (pictured at the 2022 NRL Grand Final) has spoken out about suffering a serious surfing injury while in Indonesia.
Fletcher (pictured third from right on a previous tropical vacation) ended up getting stitches in his foot from a drunk surgeon.
“I was rooting for everything and he did it.” I don’t have any scars because he did a good job. Although he couldn’t really stand up.
‘It was quite fun. I sewed it up, tied it up, and headed straight back into the waves. It was day one of 10.’
Fletcher is no stranger to freak injuries.
In 2016 he was rushed to hospital after breaking three ribs and puncturing his lung while attempting a world record.
The attempt involved him and NRL great mate Nathan Hindmarsh linking arms and jumping on an inflatable pillow to catapult a performer into the air. But things didn’t go as planned.
‘We got to the top and this time we were about 10 meters away, so I’m looking at Hindy saying, shit. “This is pretty heavy,” Fletcher said.
“The guy told us to land on our backs, so we linked arms and it seems like Hindy pulled me down a little bit, I turned sideways and landed directly on his knee.
“Somehow it’s twisted in the air and I turned sideways and just knelt down from behind.”
Moments later he realized how seriously injured he was.
Fletcher said he once walked through a wall with Hollywood star and Souths owner Russell Crowe (pictured together) during a football session in a pub.
“So I was out of breath in the water and I tried to laugh and I tried, but I got up and I knew something was wrong because I coughed up a bunch of blood,” he said.
“And yes, I broke my ribs and punctured my lung.”
Fletcher again found himself in a strange situation while playing for Souths in 2003.
Rabbitohs owner Russell Crowe organized a pub night for the team, who got extremely drunk on Absinthe.
Near the end of the night, Crowe asked him to bring in the club’s best defender because he wanted a football game.
“It was a weird moment, but I’m thinking, ‘You have to humor Russ, he made us this drink,'” Fletcher said in 2021.
“So Russell comes running up to me and I attack him like I always have my whole career and I miss him. He runs after me and hides behind an imaginary set of posts.
‘I said, “Good for you, Russ” and kept walking. I take two steps and they push me from behind. It’s Russ. He just stops in front of me and says, “You fucking dog. You’re a fucking cat. You’re a waste of money, you’re the worst captain in the history of South Sydney.”
He was right, but he didn’t have to say it to my face. The guys have rushed to see what’s going on… I got nervous and said, “Let’s do this again.”
“He basically gets up and runs at me and I get under his ribs and push him… and put him through a wall and the guys are just like, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ “Why are you doing this?”
‘Russ shows up, just shakes his head and says, “That’s what I want to see!” “That was his motivation, so we ended up having a fantastic night, getting to work.”
The Rabbitohs then won their match against the Melbourne Storm a few days later, but were only victorious in one other game of the season as they were stuck with the wooden spoon.