Life after football and out of the limelight can be tough for sports stars, as disgraced rugby league star Ben Barba is currently discovering.
Barba, 29, recently had his NRL contract torn up after allegedly assaulting his partner outside a casino over the Australia Day long weekend; the latest in a long sequence of off-field incidents that marred his career.
The one-time Dally M medalist for player of the season has been forced to take a new job as a metal worker, earning $20-an-hour in a north Queensland factory.
But Barba isn't the only footballer to take up a new and less glamorous career - with plenty of NRL and AFL stars choosing life in the everyday world while a handful stay in the game via media or coaching.
Footy bad boy Ben Barba (pictured) is working at a metal workshop in Queensland after his NRL contract was torn up following the alleged assault of his partner Ainslie Currie
JOBE WATSON - CAFE OWNER/BARRISTA
At the peak of his career, Jobe Watson earned the crown as the best player in the AFL as the 2012 Bronwlow Medalist.
But life changed dramatically in the years that followed due to the doping scandal that engulfed his club, Essendon.
Watson, along with 34 teammates, spent the entire 2016 season on the sidelines and during that time moved to New York where he opened a coffee shop.
He returned to play 20 games in 2017 but retired at the end of the season and splits his time between Melbourne and New York.
AFL star Jobe Watson (pictured) opened a cafe in New York during his year away from football in 2016
Watson was forced to miss the entirety of the 2016 AFL season because he and 34 of his Essendon teammates were suspended over the doping scandal
KANE CORNES - FIREMAN
After a successful career with Port Adelaide, Kane Cornes stunned the football world when he retired mid-season in 2015 to become a firefighter.
Cornes had long eyed off a job in the brigade when his footy career was done.
And so when a vacancy popped up in the middle of the year he grabbed it with both hands.
But less than six months into his career Cornes hung up his helmet to take up a series of roles in the media, where his plain-spoken style has ruffled some feathers.
After a successful career with Port Adelaide, Kane Cornes (left, with Shane Crawford) stunned the football world when he retired mid-season in 2015 to become a firefighter
But less than a year into his new job Cornes (back, with his family) quit, taking up several new roles as a media commentator
JOHN BARNES - GARBAGE COLLECTOR
AFL premiership ruckman John Barnes was a much sought-after assistant coach when he called time on his career at the end of 2001.
But after working with several clubs in a number of years, the former Geelong and Essendon star's off-field life took a very different turn when he became a garbage collector.
'My next-door neighbour had a labour hire business. I got up one morning and I said: "Ronnie, my kids are about to finish school, I need to show them I work and have a good work ethic",' Barnes told the Herald Sun in 2015.
'The next day he rang me up and said: "You're starting at 4am, running behind a rear loader" and I was like, "Oh".
'I couldn't see myself doing it, but now I am and I can't see myself doing anything else.'
He was following in the footsteps of his former Geelong teammate and Brownlow Medalist Paul Couch, who also worked as a garbo.
John Barnes (left, with his wife Rowena) was a highly sought after ruck coach when he retired in 2001, but eventually took up a new career as a garbage collector
'I couldn't see myself doing it, but now I am and I can't see myself doing anything else,' Barnes said of his career
BEN KENNEDY - MEXICAN RESTAURANT OWNER
Rugby league enforcer Ben Kennedy was no stranger to controversy throughout his decade long career.
But since hanging up the boots he has taken on a completely different role - running his own Guzman Y Gomez franchise in Newcastle.
Despite his notoriety as a NSW Origin and Kangaroos
