The Dragons stars furthering their careers off the field
With university semesters having started up for the year, an array of players from within the club’s system are back juggling football and study commitments.
The Dragons’ partnership with the University of Wollongong (UOW) continues to prove fruitful with 17 players from the club’s full-time or pathways squads currently furthering their studies with the university.
With the club’s Community and High Performance Centre (CHPC) soon being built on the UOW’s Innovation Campus, the partnership will continue on its upwards trajectory with both parties set to benefit from the new facility.
Among those currently studying at UOW include the likes of full-timers Keele Browne, Jett Liu, and Lyhkan King-Togia whilst NRL squad members Lachlan Ilias and Nick Tsougranis are studying at universities at Sydney.
Liu, who has been with the Dragons since moving up from Canberra ahead of the 2023 season, is studying a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Criminology.
“Law was something I was interested in. My cousin is a lawyer and works in family law, so that’s probably what interested me,” Liu said.
“With footy, it’ll probably take me double the time, so probably about 10 years but, as long as I have it, I’ll be happy. I know one day that all of this will go away, so it’s important to have a few options once I’ve finished playing footy.”
Juggling a rugby league career and a double degree comes with its challenge, but Liu is finding ways to make sure he can put his energy into both.
“It’s alright now. I was doing a lot more last semester,” Liu said.
“I was doing three subjects per semester last year which was hard to balance. I’m only doing one this semester which I’ve found a lot more manageable especially being full-time here at the Dragons… I know a few of the boys who are studying, and we always talk about just how we’re managing it and stuff like that which is good.”
Nick Tsougranis, who finds himself on an NRL development contract for the first time this year, is currently studying a Bachelor of Physiotherapy at Australian Catholic University.
“Essentially, what I chose I think is a good bridge,” Tsougranis said.
“I love sport. I love rugby league, obviously. I’m a bit of a science guy, so I guess it bridges that all together. Sport with a bit of science. I used to love biology at school, so that’s what I thought I’d start with. You don’t want to just be someone who plays footy. It’s important to have other strings to your bow and different potential post-playing career options.”
Like Liu, Tsougranis has had to find ways to balance the requirements of life as a full-time athlete and a university student but credits the club’s staff members for the assistance they have provided.
“Because we’re full-time and we have the changing of days and stuff, it’s not always easy,” Tsougranis said.
“It’s more just time management. I’ve got to select times during the week which I know I’m going to study and then actually having the discipline to study at that time. The club help heaps too. They pay a majority of my fees and they’re doing heaps just to help me especially with my scheduling. Anytime I need maybe a day off for an exam or something they’ve been very helpful.”
Keele Browne meanwhile is fresh off finishing her undergraduate work at UOW having attained a Bachelor of Exercise Science and understands as well as anyone the value balancing sport and study.
“I knew I wanted to go to Uni, and I’ve always loved sport growing up, so I thought Exercise Science seemed like a great option to combine both,” Browne said.
“Along the way, staff are always encouraging players to pursue something away from footy and Uni was always a plan for what I wanted to do after school. Having something to focus on away from footy is super important and helps you have that time away that you need. It’s easy to get caught up in it all, but pursuing a career away from footy has honestly helped me with my footy career.”
Browne too had initial struggles managing the stresses of both careers but learnt quickly how to manage thanks in large part to the support system around her.
“It was definitely tough, especially my first year of Uni because that was the same year I debuted, and we had been playing a lot of footy. Getting chucked in the deep end is sometimes the quickest way to learn,” she said.
“I learnt what burnout was that year but also learnt how to manage a lot of things at once. Learning better time management was so important plus learning how to prioritise what I needed to at certain times of the year. The club understands and supports the importance of study as well as UOW. They were super helpful in flexibility of timetabling and understanding that footy was the priority in season.”
