THE cold reality of rugby league really hit home for every player this week when Jharal Yow Yeh retired from the game aged just 24.

I know it made me feel just how lucky I was to have played the game I loved for so long.

Very few aspiring players get the chance to play NRL and even when you do get to play at the highest level it can be so cruelly taken away from you so quickly.

Jharal Yow Yeh is a great lesson for everyone in the game of rugby league. What a story he has to tell young players and future generations of aspiring stars.

This is the perfect opportunity for both the Brisbane Broncos and the NRL to seize upon one of the finest young men this game has produced and help him share his story of how he fought back. It is a story that must be told. He cannot be lost to the game.

media_camera Jharal Yow Yeh gave it everything trying to get back on the field.

This is a young player who has been robbed of his future as a player, but he still fought back from the most horrific of injuries to play the game again.

Can you imagine having 10 operations just to be able to get to the stage where you can run out on the field again with your teammates, to wear your club jersey once more and enjoy the pleasure of playing the game that brought you so much happiness as a kid.

Jharal Yow Yeh achieved so much in such a very short time. He achieved more in a few years of first grade than most players do in a lifetime.

The saddest part of his story is we will never know just how good he could have become.

He was such a big and robust winger who had speed and great anticipation. It was a dangerous combination. Plus he had the strong front-on defence that made him the perfect candidate to become a centre three quarter.

He was a great athlete but he had a real good head on his shoulders too. He reached the highest level and played for Australia when he was just 21. He was only ever going to get better.

How hard he has worked on this injury, the countless hours of physio treatment, the dedication he put into his career over the past two years just to get back out on the field and play a game at any level again is incredible.

Who knows how good he would have been? The sky would have been the limit. I know that he would have had a hell of a lot of improvement in his game. But this is the reality of rugby league, it only takes one injury and your career can be over in a second.

media_camera Jharal Yow Yeh still has a significant role to play off the field.

To play in the NRL you need to have everything pumping for you and when a serious injury strikes you lose a bit of your armour.

Maybe if Jharal was a forward and lost a bit of his speed it wouldn’t be as noticeable, but to be a winger or outside back you need speed, that skill alone is one of the best assets you can have.

I know it would have been in the back of his mind, would I ever get back to full flight again?

For two years he fought to get there. He had a massive crack. Not only did he try to get back, he was prepared to change positions. He put his ego in his pocket and was prepared to play wherever he could just to get back to the top.

Everybody in rugby league wanted to see Jharal back in the NRL. You could tell from the outpouring of messages on social media on Monday that he was an inspiration to all players in the game, not just his Broncos teammates.

I know Jharal probably didn’t get his fairytale of playing NRL again in front of a big home crowd at Suncorp Stadium, but I am sure the supporters will honour him the way he deserves at the Sydney Roosters game on Friday night.

It won’t be the last we see of Jharal Yow Yeh. The Broncos and the NRL have the perfect ambassador right there who can be an inspiration to young kids coming through the ranks for many years to come.

The demons Jharal beat over the past two years just to get to where he did should set him up for life.

I know if he works that hard and is that dedicated to his next career he will be successful in life.