ELTON Flatley’s glory days were indeed glorious. He is lucky that he can remember them.

Flatley, a schoolboy rugby prodigy who made the transition to the Wallabies in a meritorious 38-Test career, played at a time before the long-term effects of head trauma in sport were fully appreciated.

He suffered seven serious concussions over two years during his senior career with the Reds and Australia.

Who knows how many knocks he received as a 14-year-old playing in the Nudgee First XV against boys up to three or four years older?

IN DEMAND: Broncos set to poach future Wallabies star

TOKYO 2020: Kiwi junior captain joins Aussie Olympic bid

media_camera Elton Flatley’s kicking was crucial to Australia’s chances at the 2003 World Cup. Pic: Mark Evans.

GPS rules have changed so that boys can no longer play for four years in the firsts as Flatley did, and head injury protocol is strictly enforced in senior rugby following massive compensation payouts in the United States.

But all that came too late for Flatley, who was forced to retire from rugby in 2006 after suffering a head knock against the All Blacks in Sydney the previous season.

The next week he pulled out of a Test against South Africa in Perth due to double vision during the warm-up. He never played another Test.

media_camera Elton Flatleyas a schoolboy with Nudgee back in 1998.

His final game was his 114th for the Reds against the Western Force the next season when he admitted to having suffered blurred vision for several weeks without informing team officials.

“It came as a shock,” he said.

“I’d just signed a new three-year contract. I was 28 and that contract probably would have seen me out in Australia but I could’ve had a year or two in Japan or England after that.

“It was hard initially. I’d started at such a young age that I didn’t know much else.

“It’s a mental thing. It’s hard to adjust. You go from that structured life where things are all laid out for you and being around the boys all the time to being on your own. It’s pretty tough.”

media_camera Elton Flatley played for four year in the First XV at Nudgee.

And Flatley was no ordinary player. From going straight into Nudgee’s First XV in Year 9 and captaining the side to two undefeated premierships in 1994 and ’95, he was elevated into the Reds aged 18.

At 20 he was in the Test side, at 26 his ice-cool goal­kicking took the Wallabies to within a minute of winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup final.

And then it was all over, just like that.

media_camera Elton Flatley being tackled high against the Waratahs. Pic: Darren England

“When you are playing professional sport you are so focused on what you are doing that you don’t look too far ahead,” Flatley said.

“I really didn’t know what to do. I knew I didn’t want to coach.

“I’d had enough of travelling and being away from home all the time.

media_camera Elton Flatley during his appearance on Celebrity Survivor alongside Wayne Gardner, Gabrielle Richens and Guy Leech

“There were a few years where I was a bit lost.”

During that time Flatley’s marriage broke up. He tried to make a living as a celebrity speaker and was on Celebrity Survivor before finding his feet.

media_camera Elton Flatley in action during the 2003 World Cup against Scotland.

Entering the financial planning field, he worked with Westpac and CommBank before starting his own business, Wealth Insurance Solutions, with partner and fiancee Hayley White six years ago.

Living on the Gold Coast close to his three children, he says life is good.

“Playing professional rugby was amazing,” he says. “But there’s a lot more to life.”