Greg Duvall (foreground) is a SuperCoach.
A Surry Hills man has delved too deeply into the world of NRL SuperCoach to the exclusion of all else in his life.
Greg Duvall, 32, has quit his job, is facing divorce and is now effectively estranged from his wife and children.
The lure of NRL fantasy and SuperCoach is all too real and is dramatically affecting men’s mental health.
This intoxicating game of chance and skill can be all consuming. Each week thousands of fanatics devote hours to the cause hedging their wits against other punters to form a squad that outplays and out classes their rivals.
All too often hours at work have been whittled away weighing up players against one another in the hope of being victorious, and it’s not just Mr Duvall. The Surry Hills Times can reveal that many others have fallen victim to Supercoach’s spell.
Only weeks into the season Greg Duvall has quit his job in order to attend training sessions and matches of each NRL club he has appointed a player.
Not only that but he now travels to games as well sometimes interstate and more recently to Auckland so he can see players first hand and get a grasp on all the as he says, “off the ball work” players do to get a deeper understanding of their mental state.
“I’m managing a squad of 25. All on my own. It’s not easy. I don’t get any help and the stakes are all too real. Not only is there prize money at stake there’s an enormous amount of pride at stake as well.”
Greg can often be seen with clipboard in hand wearing a suit riding each play as if he were the coach himself. If you were to ask Mr Duvall he is effectively the coach.
“It’s made me feel for blokes like Peter Doust who has copped fierce criticism from Dragons fans. The ‘Oust Doust’ sign was a perennial fixture at every St George match. What fans don’t realise is that this bloke has got to work under the cap and put together a premiership winning side every season. If the hardest job in the world. That’s why I’ve devoted all my time to it. How could I not? It’s a full time job.”
And it’s not only Mr Duvall. The Surry Hills Times can reveal this is far from an isolated case.
Several devotees of Supercoach can quite often be seen just underneath the coaches box displaying an intensity and passion that is quite frankly scary often eclipsing that of the team’s actual First Grade coach.
In one instance Craig Bellamy had to ask a man to quieten down as he hadn’t heard swearing like that since ‘Hogan’s Heroes’.
“It’s become my life” said Grahame Buckley, 28. “Yes there’s been some collateral damage. I particularly miss the kids but every week I climb the rankings and at season’s end I’ll have a SuperCoach winning side that will be number one amongst thousands of putters. That’s an achievement any kid can be proud of. They’re just too young to understand.”