Some of the boys were freaking out. Others just sat there in stunned silence, trying to comprehend it. After a short while, everyone went quiet as it hit that this is real, this had really happened. A few blokes started crying. We all had a sense of denial, that it just couldn't be right, it was too sad and awful and impossible to be true.
A body had been found, having fallen from the Flamingo's rooftop. The authorities had found a wallet. J-Mac still had a Victorian driver's licence because he had only been traded to us from Collingwood at the start of that year, and he hadn't moved his licence over to South Australia. So they called the Victoria police, trying to locate his family. A Victorian copper apparently recognised the name and said he thought he played for Collingwood. So the Nevada police rang Collingwood and spoke to the media manager, Stephen Rielly, who explained that J-Mac had moved to Port and gave them the club's contact details. Steve then rang our media manager, Dan Norton, who he knew well. "Mate, I think one of your players might have died in Vegas."
Once they told us and it sunk in, we still didn't know what to do or how to react. We wanted to go to him, to go to the police, to go to the hospital or the morgue and see with our own eyes. We were told not to. It was unnecessary because they were certain of his identity and it would only upset us further. Rohdey was already making arrangements to get on the next plane to Vegas to sort out the formal stuff.
One of the immediate difficulties was that the news was already breaking back in Australia that a Port Adelaide player had died in Vegas. Because the police in Australia knew, Collingwood knew and people at Port knew, it was only a matter of time before it got out. In the end, it was only a very short amount of time before it leaked. We had barely been told before it was on radio at home. They didn't say who, just that it was believed a Port Adelaide player had died. Naturally, all of our families freaked out. Can you imagine how Mum was hearing that? She'd lost her husband and her son was in Vegas and there was talk a Port player was dead. I can't even recall now if I called her or she called me, but thankfully, we got onto each other pretty much straight away.
Although the news was seeping out in Australia, the police couldn't get in touch with J-Mac's parents, Shane and Catherine. They're from Sorrento, down on the [Mornington] Peninsula, and were playing golf. The local police eventually worked out where they were and actually drove onto the course to find them. What a shocking way to have that news broken to you. There's no good way to receive that kind of news, but a police car driving up to you on the golf course is awful. J-Mac's brother, Matthew, was travelling somewhere in Europe and was hard to reach too, so there was no official confirmation to the media of the identity of the player until they found Matt, which took some time.
I had met Shane and Catherine before. They are brilliant people. Of course, Shane told the club he was going to get on a flight, but by that stage, Rohdey was already halfway to Honolulu. Shane, who was a lawyer, wanted to handle the formalities and bring his boy home. Those words just kill me. Rohdey got on to Shane as soon as he landed in Honolulu and convinced him that he could handle the logistics, and that Shane was better off staying home with Catherine and being with their family. What an awful conversation for both of them.