Party's over for Canberra Raiders backline ace Blake Ferguson
BLAKE Ferguson insists his days as a party boy are over, revealing: "I don't want to look back in 10 years and be disappointed with what I see."
A member of the Emerging NSW Origin squad, Ferguson has endured a summer of negative publicity after being ejected from a Canberra music festival and then going AWOL from the emerging Blues camp.
The misdemeanours form part of a growing rap sheet that also includes the 22-year-old being dropped, alongside star fullback Josh Dugan, after breaking the club's strict alcohol policy last May.
Yet a contrite Ferguson says he is not only giving up the party-boy lifestyle this year, but embracing his new status as an NRL role model. "All the stuff that happened in the pre-season, I know it was wrong," he says. "It's why I've owned up to it publicly, why I've apologised and why I'm changing.
"All that stuff, it's in the past for me now. I don't want to look back in 10 years and be disappointed with what I see.
"Just lately I've started doing a lot more work with kids, trying to get myself out there and explain to them that it's not good to be doing some of the stuff I've done.
"I really want to change and prove myself a role model for the kids."
Among the most entertaining players in the NRL, Ferguson has been polarising league fans ever since declaring, three years ago, that he was leaving Cronulla for a team that could "win the premiership".
Among the Raiders' best in a sodden Goulburn trial against Canterbury on Saturday night, Ferguson gave coach David Furner a scare when he went crashing into a fence while attempting to score a try.
It was part of a tough night for the livewire Indigenous All Star, who was helped from the field during the second half of his team's win against the Bulldogs after breaking his nose in a tackle.
Source: http://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/partys-over-for-canberra-raiders-backline-ace-blake-ferguson/story-fndujljl-1226584552433
Topic: Party over for Blake Ferguson
