“HE told me no matter how hard it gets, just keep having a go,” said Damian Jobson as he recalled a surprise encounter with legendary rugby league coach Wayne Bennett.
In his first interview since becoming a quadriplegic after a horror tackle last month, Jobson said moments of darkness were kept to a minimum because “it feels like the whole of Newcastle is behind me”.
“That has meant so much to me, I can’t describe it,” he said on Sunday.
“It wouldn’t happen anywhere else. It’s still up and down, but that support has kept me going.”
Jobson was surprised – and admittedly star struck – by the Broncos coach, who made the special visit to Royal North Shore Hospital on Friday.
Bennett was coach of the Newcastle Knights when Alex McKinnon endured a similar tragedy in 2014.
“He’s been through it with Alex,” Jobson said.
“He told me to stay strong, that life would get better if I just keep hanging in there.
“He told me no matter how hard it gets, just keep having a go.
“He said all the things you want to hear. He’s a really great bloke.”
Newcastle and Hunter Rugby League administrator Dave Wild – who won praise for how he handled the crisis of confidence that gripped the amateur rugby league community in the weeks after the accident – said he “couldn’t speak highly enough” of Bennett.
“He rang me a week into the tragedy, and he’s been in touch ever since,” Wild said.
“How he is in real life is entirely different to the way he appears in the media. He’s genuine and a very, very impressive person.”
Wild said Bennett specifically requested no media presence when he visited Jobson.
“I think that speaks to who he is,” he said. “He didn’t want to make a fuss.”
Meanwhile, Jobson has received news he is set to be transferred to Ryde Rehabilitation Hospital as he continues his recovery.
It puts him on course to reach his goal of being home by Christmas.
“It can get pretty repetitive (in hospital), the same things happen over and over,” he said. “Home by Christmas, that’s what I want.”
It comes as community donations to the Jobson family appeal continue to pour in.
