Rising Roosters star Terrell May has revealed how he lost close to 30kgs after gaining a second lease on his rugby league life which has helped make him one of the most in-demand props in the NRL.
May has a two-year extension offer on the table but the 24-year-old is also being courted by the Dragons and the Bulldogs with deals worth north of $500,000 per season.
It comes just four years after May quit rugby league during the 2020 lockdown after walking away from his train-and-trial deal at the Wests Tigers worth $1000 a week.
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“(It was) not because I didn’t like the Tigers, I just didn’t want to train, didn’t want to be there,” May said.
But unemployed and sitting on the couch saw his weight blow out to over 135kgs as May watched his older brother Tyrone play for Penrith in the 2020 grand final.
By the following year his little brother Taylan was also playing for the Panthers and May decided it was time to give the NRL another crack.
He joined Manly’s feeder club the Blacktown Workers and started running 20 kilometres per day after watching a video on Youtube by ultramarathon runner David Goggins.
“I was sitting at home. Tiny and Tyrone went up into the bubble… obviously I couldn’t work because of COVID, so I would just lie around at home, and I came across this YouTube video by David Goggins,” May told the Bloke in a Bar podcast recently.
May and some mates completed a variation of Goggins’ 4x4x48 challenge, which is running four miles (6.43km) every four hours across two days.
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They halved the distance but still covered an impressive 38 kilometres in 48 hours, running at all hours.
“Say you start at 12, you finish your run and go back home and you’ve got to wake up at 4am, for two days” May said.
“And I did that while I was fat … If I could do that, I could do anything.”
May trimmed down to 110kgs and earned a NSW Cup contract in 2022 with the North Sydney Bears, who are the Storm’s feeder club.
Melbourne and the Roosters coach Trent Robinson were both keeping a close eye on his progress and he was offered a train-and-trial deal at the Tricolours.
May impressed so much in that five-week contract that he made his NRL debut just a few months later in Round 11 against his brother.
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“He showed talent young as a player and then had his own issues about playing and desire there,” Robinson said.
“And then he made a change in his life. North Sydney picked him up and he had five weeks with us and he nailed those.… Now he’s very fit and very strong, and you can see that in his game to the point where he started last weekend.
“We’ve been very clear over the last six months with Terrell about where we’re at with him and his manager. Nothing’s changed for us. We’re pretty clear that we’re in negotiations at the moment.”
The three brothers are determined to play for the same NRL club together but with time on their side it may not be for a few years.
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