Sione Faumuina: Alcoholic footy star confesses he turned up to training drunk and his teammates knew - as he opens up about blowing $1million and almost taking his own life Sione Faumuina battled alcoholism while in the NRL Struggled to cope with the pressure of professional football For confidential crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 By James Cooney For Daily Mail Australia Published: 02:39, 24 July 2024 | Updated: 02:39, 24 July 2024 e-mail View comments Former New Zealand Warriors bad boy Sione Faumuina has opened up about his self-destructive battle with alcoholism, how he wasted a million dollars - and the time he almost took his own life. Faumuina, 43, was an extremely talented footballer who played 132 NRL matches for the Warriors, Cowboys and Raiders and represented New Zealand - but the troubled star never reached his full potential. The Kiwi star was a wild and at times self destructive man off the field, and was never able to reign in his drinking habits, which would sometimes involve regular multi-day benders.
While playing for the Warriors, it wasn't uncommon for him to be out all night drinking before taking a taxi straight to the club for a training session. 'I was that guy who could go out all night, turn up to training and still come first in all our fitness drills,' Faumuina revealed on the Between Two Beers podcast . 'That was me.
I smoked. I drank. Partied hard - but I trained even harder.
That's how I used to validate that. 'And some of the boys.
