Twelve months after playing in an NRL grand final, Ryan Papenhuyzen is standing on the first tee box at Wollongong Golf Club — retired, content, and eager to clear up a few misconceptions about why one of the most electrifying fullbacks of his generation walked away from the game at 28.

The former Melbourne Storm star, a premiership winner and Clive Churchill Medallist in 2020, chose the coastal course — which overlooks WIN Stadium and Wollongong City Beach — as the setting to address what he says has been a persistent failure on the part of many people to simply believe him. He is done with rugby league. He has no interest in a rugby union switch. And he has absolutely no regrets.

'People Just Don't Believe It': Papenhuyzen Addresses the Sceptics

Despite making his retirement clear, Papenhuyzen says the public reaction has surprised him. He turned down a million-dollar contract with the Storm at the peak of his career, and that decision alone has been enough to fuel widespread disbelief.

"People just don't believe it," he says. "Maybe it's the concept of walking away from a million dollars — why would you give that money up? There's probably a little bit of disbelief with that."

Papenhuyzen says the reaction reveals something telling about how professional sport is perceived from the outside. "People will work all week, and they'll sit and watch the footy, and it's their joy of the week. A lot of people wish they could be in that position. But there are things that come with it. You're putting your body through probably the hardest thing you'll ever go through physically. You lose your anonymity. You go out in public and people want to talk to you."

He is careful to acknowledge how that might sound. "It'll seem really ungrateful, but it's more about understanding what comes with it. Just because you're good at it doesn't mean you need to do it. Find something that aligns more to how you want to live your life."

A Career Lived at Both Extremes

Papenhuyzen's rugby league journey took him from grand final glory to serious injury setbacks and back again. He says experiencing both ends of the spectrum gave him a clarity that made walking away easier than outsiders might expect.

"I achieved success quite early on, then had all the pitfalls of injuries," he says. "I feel like I lived out both ends of the spectrum. As the year's gone, I just have no drive or want to get back in that arena."

Reports had previously suggested he might pivot to Japanese rugby or join the since-collapsed rebel competition R360. He did neither. Instead, he has spent time caddying for Australian golfer Daniel Gale and coaching clients in mental performance — a pursuit that clearly aligns with his own reflective outlook.

Golf as a Way of Life

Papenhuyzen is currently visiting the Illawarra region while staying with his girlfriend's family in nearby Bulli, which explains the Wollongong setting. He is playing off a handicap of 11 and knows his 10-digit Golf ID number off by heart — a small but telling sign of how fully he has embraced life after football.

He draws a direct parallel between the game and the broader human experience. "Golf's just like the game of life, I reckon. You go through your journey of bad shots, but if you don't respond to it well, then it's going to be two bad shots, and it just compounds. It's four hours of pretty much living out what I know life to be at the moment."

With this weekend's NRL grand final set to be contested by the Roosters and the Knights, the man who played in last year's decider is watching on from the fairways — and he would not have it any other way.