LISTEN TO FTBL PODCAST HERE NOW:

  SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES HERE  

"I turned to alcohol. I'm not an alcoholic by any stretch, but that was a vice for me where I felt a bit of comfort. I used to escape to different pubs in Belgium and Holland so I just wouldn't be found.

"Lozza eventually found me and said, 'Look I'm going to go drink for drink with you...' and I guess that was a turning point where I started to get myself back on track."

Rudan says he now uses that experience from his own life when he's recruiting others to join his team.

"I look at their journeys and what they've had to overcome and what they went through, because  looking back, that was a pretty dark time in my career and it shook me up and it changed me," he said.

Now though, he's just looking to the future and is refusing to put a limit on what his new-look Phoenix side can achieve.

"I don't put a ceiling on where this team can go and where these players can go. I believe in these guys so much, there's so much quality about them as well," he said. "They're great human beings.

"Some of them just never got out of their comfort zones or did just what they needed to do. My job is to get the best out of them and get them to where I really believe they can get to."

Listen to the full podcast for the complete chat and more details on his German nightmare move.

 

   SEE PHOENIX TRAIN IN CESSNOCK HERE