Brendan Cannon: How anxiety almost derailed my rugby career

Brendan Cannon beat the British and Irish Lions, played 42 times in the Wallabies jersey and has over 100 Super Rugby caps to his name but at one point in his career, the hooker was so anxious about throwing a line out, he felt paralysed by fear every time he saw someone kick the ball. Cannon spoke openly about his struggles with mental health at a Rugby Business Network event in Sydney this week. “It got to the point that every time I saw someone go to kick the ball I knew there were only two options. It was either going to be kept in play and we were going to counter attack, or it was going to go out and I was going to have to take the ball and my teammates expected me to hit the target,” Cannon told Rugby News after the event. “From the moment the ball went out and the touch judges flag went up, the nerves just welled in my stomach and it really made me quite anxious. It was something I had created. I had really complicated something that I had been comfortable doing
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