Ch9 did a story on Blake a few years ago when he was playing NSW Cup for Penrith. He was coaching some young guys from his local area to get them off the streets and funding it out of his own pocket.
Yes, that's true. Everything about the bloke is good. I read this article about him at the start of the year. Seems a level headed top Aussie!
RAIDERS star Blake Austin has revealed how winning a
Footy Show competition helped his family out of housing commission when he was a youngster.
Austin grew up living in housing commission residences in the western Sydney suburb of Doonside.
His parents were unable to afford a deposit on their own house, until their nine-year-old son discovered a pot of gold.
Austin won Channel Nine’s
The Footy Show segment “league of their own”, for which the prize was a brand new Holden Jackaroo.
This stroke of luck led to his family buying their first home.
“We lived in housing commission until I was 12,” Austin told
The Locker Room podcast.
“I didn’t have a rough upbringing. I had great parents. They didn’t have much money but no money was spared for sport.
“I actually won a car on
The Footy Show at nine (years old).
“It was a Holden Jackaroo and mum and dad sold that and we got out of housing commission and they bought a house in Mount Druitt.
“Mum and dad would never have come across the cash for a house deposit — (selling the car) that allowed us (to buy a house).
“It definitely wasn’t a flash house in Mount Druitt but being Aussie parents it was definitely one of their goals to own a house and we were able to do that.”
Austin has never forgotten his Doonside roots, and continues to work with junior rugby league players from the area.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl...d/news-story/037d76fb1d60099a0033b080482d2753