Ben Barba starts new $20-an-hour factory job with footy career in tatters
Ben Barba has started his post-football life as a metal worker.
Daily Mail Australia has published photos of the disgraced NRL player at his new job at a metal workshop in Mackay, Queensland.
He has reportedly been working on fixing garage doors.
Earlier this month the NRL told Barba to find a new career after effectively handing him a life ban from the league.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg de-registered Barba and said he couldn’t foresee any way back for the former Dally M Medallist.
His hardline stance came after the NRL integrity unit viewed CCTV footage of an alleged physical altercation involving Barba and his partner Ainslie Currie at a Townsville casino over the Australia Day weekend.
The manager of Statewide Sales and Service told the Daily Mail Barba got the new job through a family connection.
“He’s out there on the floor working under his cousin’s supervision,” Amanda Doull said.
“He’s good and he’s going fine.”
Disgraced footy star Ben Barba begins job at Queensland metal workshop https://t.co/0Yd2Z6iewH via @MailOnline
— spacewoman reporter (@SpacewomanR) February 22, 2019
Metal workers typically earn about $40,000 a year, a far cry from the $300,000 contract he was on at the Cowboys.
Barba’s footy career in tatters
The English Super League and Australian Rugby Union have both said they won’t offer Barba a career lifeline, leaving European club rugby union as his only option if he wants to continue playing professional football.
Having debuted in 2008, Barba won the 2012 Dally M and led Canterbury to the grand final that year before his career first spiralled out of control.
He was stood down by the Bulldogs to seek help for alcohol and gambling issues, amid rumours of a domestic violence incident.
News Corp published photos of his partner with cuts and bruises to her face, however, she made no complaint to the NRL or the club.
After a stint at Brisbane in 2014, Barba played a leading part in Cronulla’s 2016 grand final win, scoring a decisive try in the first-half.
But trouble soon followed as he was suspended for 12 weeks when he recorded his second illicit drugs strike after the Sharks’ premiership celebrations.
He landed in French rugby union before he rebuilt his career in the English Super League, winning the Man of Steel award last year, and was offered a one-year deal by the Cowboys.
However he was sacked without ever playing a game for the Townsville-based club.
with AAP
