Greater Western Sydney captain Toby Greene has revealed he almost “perished” in a surfing accident in Bali.
The 31-year-old was on an end-of-season trip to the popular holiday destination when he went out for a surf in supposedly eight-foot waves.
The Giants star crashed out and lost his board, having to be rescued by a jet ski whose driver allegedly told him, “Mate, that’s as close as I’ve seen someone to perishing here”.
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Greene revealed to Triple M’s The Rush Hour with JB & Billy that he initially thought, “Don’t panic because you’ll die”.
“I was just arrogant,” he said.
“We were staying on this beach, and I’d noticed there were these little rocks that you could walk across.
“I noticed all the gun surfers were out surfing on the other side of this point, and I thought, ‘I wonder why no one had paddled out from my side, I’ll just do that because it’ll save me time’.
“So I paddled out, misread the break and how big they were, and that the reef was 30 centimetres deep, and had these eight-foot waves hitting me and blasted my board into the rocks, so that was gone, I couldn’t get it.
“The jet ski (driver) was yelling, ‘Swim sideways because I can’t get to (you)’. He was trying to save me.
“I got under a few waves and told myself, ‘Don’t panic because you’ll die’.
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“The (man on the) jet ski came and picked me up, and he said, ‘Mate, that’s as close as I’ve seen someone to perishing here’.
“It was just stupid what I did. It was day one, and I just got excited.”
It has been an eventual off-season for Greene so far.
He also got engaged to his partner Georgia, posting the moment to his Instagram.
Prior to heading overseas he was forced to defend himself after being caught in a Wacky Wednesday scandal, where he and several teammates were fined by the AFL over inappropriate costumes and skits.