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How to tune into Sport NationEx-NRL player opens up on terrifying CTE "diagnosis"
Nicholas Quinlan • November 20th, 2025 10:43 am
Beloved Rugby League player Nathan Wood has spoken about how he learnt of his probable CTE diagnosis.
Wood has had quite a career in the sport, having managed to play for three NRL clubs over the course of nine seasons before then moving to England to play for Wakefield and Warrington for an additional four years.
Having played Rugby League for that long and having suffered various concussions, the 215 first-grade player admitted that he had suffered from symptoms related to CTE.
But it was only after a conversation with a former teammate from his days in Warrington who posted about his test results showing that he had a poor diagnosis, which indicated a high chance of having CTE, that encouraged Wood to get tested himself despite not initially wanting to.
“About 18 months ago, I was diagnosed with a pretty poor CTE diagnosis,” Wood explained on SEN's The Run Home with Joel and Fletch.
“Which I’ve kept pretty dark, and the only reason why I found out about it was because a mate of mine that I played with in the UK, called Nick Fozzard.
“I saw him on Facebook coping a bit of a bagging from the press and the supporters in England, and I touched base (with him) and said, 'What’s going on?' Obviously, I read the post.
“And I said to him, ‘What are the symptoms?’ and he told me, and I go, ‘Mate, I’ve had that for ages’.
“And he told me that you should get tested, and I was like, I don’t want to know, and he was like, you’ve got to know.
“I knew there were things going on with me that weren’t normal, but I just kept it dark as you do.
“And then he was like, you’ve got to know because if there is (an issue), then there’s possibly medications you can use or stuff you can do that can slow it down.
“So, I ended up getting all these tests, and I got a pretty poor result in a lot of things.
“In my scans, I got 133 scans, and 108 of them were abnormal.”
Reflecting on his career, Wood estimates that he would have likely had up to 30 concussions, which made the likelihood of being diagnosed with a high chance of CTE even more likely, also noting that his family members who also played Rugby League could also have it.
“If you look back through my career, let’s say I played grade from 18 (when I had) my first really bad concussion, where I went home and went to sleep and lost my eyesight and was in intensive care for two days, completely blind and then I had to have a year off footy,” he continued.
“Then once I came back, I had to start fresh because I didn’t get a start at Souths, and then I went to the Tigers and started from scratch.
“And in that period of time from 20 years (old) to 35, when I retired from footy, I probably got knocked out twice a season.
“And the chances of coming through that unscathed are pretty much zero.
“So, when I got the report, I just kept it dark, and I hadn’t told many people.
“My brother (Garth Wood), he’s no doubt has got CTE and stuff like that. My Dad (Barry Wood) is suffering from Parkinson’s.
“So that’s three generations of footballers there, we’ve all had our fair share of knocks and have these CTE diagnoses, although my dad hasn’t been tested and neither has my brother.”
Wood also spoke on the effect that his probable diagnosis has had on his day-to-day life, explaining how he found himself being more reclusive after finding out his test results.
“That’s the thing for me,” he elaborated.
“It’s more…and this is where I’ve become a bit of an anti-social because you can feel yourself struggle to find words.
“I found myself struggling to hold conversations where normally I would just do it.
“So, I sort of just in the last two years since I got that diagnosis, I’ve sort of isolated myself a bit, and it just puts you in a bad place yourself.”
To raise awareness about the cause, Wood is currently fundraising for the Sydney Brain Bank through the 99Hiitbox Standing 8 Punch & Burpee Challenge, which will last for eight weeks beginning on November 21 at the Maroubra 400 Club on Maroubra Beach.
