Ex-AB diagnosed with early dementia

• Author: RUGBY UNION
• Published date: 04 November 2021
• Publication title: Northland Age, The

Once considered the best tighthead prop and highest-paid player in rugby, Hayman told Dylan Cleaver’s The Bounce of his diagnosis and the emotional roller-coaster ride he’s been on since retiring from rugby in 2015.

“I spent several years thinking I was going crazy. At one stage that’s genuinely what I thought. It was the constant headaches and all these things going on that I couldn’t understand,” Hayman says.

That state of mind led Hayman down a road of alcohol abuse, suicidal thoughts and erratic behaviour; the latter leading to a suspended prison sentence in France after he admitted to charges of domestic violence.

In December last year, two former All Blacks, Hayman and Geoff Old, told the Herald they had been in contact with British-based lawyers about their post-playing medical conditions.

Hayman initially declined offers to be tested to ascertain any damage to his brain over the course of his playing career. However, he relented after thinking of how his story...