Former NRL star Alex McKinnon has been slugged with two insults by the Newcastle Knights after going to watch his former club take on the Melbourne Storm on Saturday afternoon.
McKinnon – who was left paralysed by a horrific on-field accident against the Storm in 2014 – watched the Knights slump to their 11th loss of the season, going down 32-14.
The one-time backrower sat on the hill at McDonald Jones Stadium, and astonishingly had to pay for his own general admission ticket, News Corp reported.
Newcastle also chose that home game against the Storm to promote a spinal support organisation called Stronger Together.
To add to what many fans would see as highly insensitive timing, the club did not ask McKinnon if he wanted to be involved in the initiative with Stronger Together.
The incident comes after reports that powerbrokers at Newcastle are preparing to dump coach Adam O’Brien at the end of the footy season, and other reports that the team’s best player, Kalyn Ponga, is looking to switch codes to rugby union before his contract expires in 2027.
Alex McKinnon (pictured with partner Lily Malone and daughter Harriet) was hit with two insults by his former club last Saturday
The one-time backrower (pictured) had to pay for his own admission ticket at McDonald Jones Stadium to watch the Knights play the Storm, it has been reported
Last month, it was announced that McKinnon would be taking a big step forward in his new career with healthcare company, Alike Health.
The 33-year-old joined the specialist healthcare firm as its Head of Growth and Partnerships, having previously worked with the organisation as a Lived Experience Consultant.
The firm revealed that McKinnon’s role is now changing within the company, with the former footy player now offering Psychosocial Recovery coaching.
‘With a background in Psychological Science, professional sport, and a lived experience of resilience and change, Alex brings genuine understanding and practical support to those navigating psychosocial disability,’ Alike wrote on Instagram.
In his new role as a Psychosocial Recovery Coach, McKinnon provides support to those suffering from psychosocial disabilities.
The role aims to help individuals regain their independence and get back to doing things they enjoy.
It came after McKinnon announced earlier this year that he was set to commence a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at the University of Newcastle.
He had previously obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.
McKinnon (pictured with Lily Malone) graduated last year with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Newcastle
McKinnon, a father-of-three had faced an uncertain future 11 years ago after one of the most shocking incidents in Australian sporting history.
McKinnon fractured his C4 and C5 vertebrae in a horror tackle during that game against Melbourne in 2014.
He’d played 49 NRL games before tragedy struck – and as he later revealed, he knew as soon as he hit the ground that his life was about to change forever.
‘I knew straight away,’ he told ABC journalist Stan Grant in 2020.
‘I remember hearing the noise, I remember trying to move but not being able to, I remember players surrounding me and looking at me – clear conversations, I could hear everything.
‘I really just felt embarrassed … I suppose it takes you back to being a man and what your identity is there – strong, unflappable, unwavering – I just felt that it was embarrassing that I was laying there, unable to move, and I just felt like a real failure.’
Five days after the tackle, he woke up to a medical practitioner pricking him with a pin to determine where his paralysis began and classify the injury.
On the sixth day, doctors at The Alfred Hospital gave Mr McKinnon, his parents and then-girlfriend Teigan Power the devastating news that it was very unlikely he would ever walk again.
In his emotional biography, Unbroken, McKinnon wrote: ‘I began to yell and sob as tears streamed down my face.’
‘I’m f***ing over this,’ he yelled to his parents.
‘I don’t want to be here, this is making me sick to my stomach, why can’t I just die? Why can’t you just kill me? Why are you going to put me through this? How can you let me live like this? Is it just for you? I’m happy to die. I want this over.’
He would later split from wife Teigan Power in 2022, but has found love again with new partner Lily Malone.
The pair are understood to have started dating while the 33-year-old was studying at university.
McKinnon was working as head of recruitment with the Knights until January 2022, when he left the role in order to focus on his studies.
