Footy star is blindsided by two bombshell videos as he takes giant insurance company to court over devastating spinal injury

Former NRL player Ethan Lowe and the sport’s insurer have been the subject of videos showing the Premier League-winning striker jet-skiing and dancing in a legal case against the sport. He claims he suffered a serious and permanent injury after a career-ending tackle.

Mr Lowe, 33, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the NRL’s insurer, Lloyd’s of London, after it ruled he was ineligible for insurance covering paralysis.

During his eight years in the NRL, Lowe built a reputation as a hard-hitting forward and made his State of Origin debut in 2019.

But the following year, at the age of 29, his career came to an abrupt end when he suffered a serious spinal injury during the Rabbitohs’ round 10 match against Newcastle after a seemingly innocuous foul.

The case revolves around whether Mr Lowe met the definition of paralysis under the policy after Lloyd’s of London refused him entry.

Lloyd’s of London also investigated whether a previous injury contributed to Mr Lowe’s condition.

The court heard that Mr Lowe suffered a spinal injury in September 2016 when pressure was applied to the back of his head during a crusher tackle, causing a disc to rupture.

He returned to the field in early 2017.

Lowe (pictured playing for South Sydney in 2019) did not play again and was forced to hang up his boots at the end of the season

“Once the surgery is done we will say the injury is resolved,” Lowe’s lawyer Callan O’Neill told the court on Monday.

Mr O’Neill indicated in his opening argument that Mr Lowe had received medical advice that he was no more at risk of re-injury than he was before the first injury because he was not suffering from neurological symptoms.

“This guy had no injuries and was playing at the highest level,” O’Neill said.

But in July 2020 he suffered another injury when pressure was again put on his neck, this time in a tackle after taking a blow in the first half of their round 10 loss to the Knights.

He played on for another 60 minutes, “courageously” according to O’Neill, but it caused a bulge in the C5/6 discs on the left side of his spinal cord, the court heard.

Mr O’Neill described it as a new and obvious injury and said Mr Lowe underwent surgery at the Prince of Wales Hospital in July 2020.

He did not play again that year and had to hang up his boots at the end of the season.

The former Souths star says he now suffers from paralysis on one side of his body and struggles to perform simple tasks

Mr Lowe, 33, says he suffers from hemiplegia – paralysis on one side of the body.

He says the left side of his body is severely weakened by the injury, even developing a “claw hand” on his left hand.

During his interrogation, Mr Lowe was questioned about his ability to perform physical and daily tasks.

On the first day of a hearing at the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday, a video recorded by the South Sydney club that promotes the Sunshine Coast was shown showing Mr Lowe on a jet ski.

Pictured: An image of Ethan Lowe on a jet ski, which was used in his legal case against the NRL’s insurer, Lloyd’s of London

The video, filmed in July 2021, showed Mr Lowe using both hands to steer the jet ski.

The court was also shown a video of Lowe dancing with his wife to ‘Time Warp’ from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Mr Lowe, who now works for Tabcorp in Brisbane, said he is still active and still lifts weights in the gym, including being able to squat 80kg.

However, he said this was significantly less than the 160kg he could squat during his active career.

And he said he could lift significantly less weight with his left arm than he could with his right arm, sometimes half as much.

Neurologist Rowena Mobbs told the court that Mr Lowe met the diagnosis of hemiplegia because he suffered from ‘severe weakness’ on his left side.

During questioning, she admitted that she had made a mistake in the report in which she described Mr Lowe as being almost paralysed.

Mr Lowe played 143 games in the NRL, including a second-row start in North Queensland’s 2015 Grand Final victory and one appearance for Queensland in the 2019 State of Origin decider.

The hearing continues under the leadership of Judge Ian Jackman.