Russell Crowe "put through a wall" on crazy night out
NRL great Bryan Fletcher has opened up about his encounter with Russell Crowe that left the two scrapping on a boozy night out.
Featuring on Brett Finch’s 'Uncensored' podcast, Fletcher revealed the wild night he had with his South Sydney teammates and Crowe in the mid-2000s.
Fletcher was the Rabbitohs captain in 2003 when he joined the club from the Roosters, however the team had suffered a nightmare season after winning only three games.
The 47-year-old said he'd never met Crowe before his move to South Sydney, but had heard a rumour that the Hollywood star had promised to take the 2002 team to the Playboy Mansion if they made the finals.
Fletcher says he was left with his mind in a scramble after Crowe contacted him near the middle of the 2003 season.
Fletcher however believed it was not actually Crowe on the other end of the line, and instead one of his teammates was pranking him.
“I said, ‘How’s Meg? Is she good in the cot?’” Fletcher told Finch, referring to Meg Ryan who Crowe was dating during that time.
“I said something more crude than that.
“Then there was awkward silence and he goes, ‘Fletch, it’s Russell. Russell Crowe’.
"And when he dropped his voice I knew straight away it was him and I’ve just gone, ‘F***, how do I get out of this?’”
It turns out Crowe had wanted the South Sydney players to bring a pair of nice clothes after their training in order to take them out.
“My imagination just starts going so by the time I get to Sutto (John Sutton) who’s the 17th bloke, I said, ‘Sutto, you’re not going to believe this bro, we are going to the Playboy Mansion’,” Fletcher said.
“Everyone is frothing, thinking they’re going to the Playboy Mansion.”
Sadly enough, the Rabbitohs didn’t go to LA, but instead arrived at a hotel in Woolloomooloo where cricket greats Shane Warne and Merv Hughes were waiting to kick them into gear with some inspirational words.
However the night took a turn around 9 pm when Crowe brought out some bottles of Absinthe.
“We went through 10 bottles. Ten bottles later and we’re going mad. It’s on. Blokes are cheering and carrying on,” Fletcher said.
He went on to say Crowe had challenged him to some footy.
“It was an odd time but I’m thinking, ‘You’ve got to humour Russ, he’s put this drink on for us’,” Fletcher said.
“So Russell comes running at me and I tackle him how I always have my whole career and I miss him. He runs behind me and dives down behind an imaginary set of posts.
“I said, ‘Good on you Russ’ and kept walking. I take two steps and I get pushed in the back. It’s Russ. He just stops in front of me and he goes, ‘You f***ing dog. You’re a f***ing cat. You’re a waste of money, you’re South Sydney’s worst ever captain’.
"He was right but he didn’t have to say it to my face.
“The boys have jerried to what’s going on … I got the s**ts and said, ‘Let’s just do this again’.
“He basically gets up and runs at me and I get under his ribs and drive him … and put him through a wall and the boys are just going, ‘What the f*** are you doing? Why are you doing this?’
“Russ pops up, just shakes his head and goes, ‘That’s what I want to see!’ That was his motivation, so we end up having a terrific night, getting on the p***.”
Crowe's motivational tactics seemed to do the job as the Rabbitohs would go on to thrash Melbourne Storm that weekend.
However their victory was short-lived.
“We beat them 42-10 and we did not win another game all year,” Fletcher admitted.
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