“I didn’t think this many people actually like me.” Nathan Charles, on Kick Offs and Kick Ons.
Nathan Charles has had a lot of messages since he announced his motor neurone disease diagnosis.
“I didn’t think this many people actually like me,” Charles said on Kick Offs and Kick Ons on Monday 19 October. “So I I was actually quite surprised with with how many messages and stuff I got.”
The former Wallabies hooker is now setting up the Nathan Charles foundation, and filling his time with things he has never done.
The comments are open: what is the first thing you would put on his list?
Drew Mitchell told him to be proud
Charles said it to Drew Mitchell, who had just told him to drop the humility for once.
Mitchell, 71 Tests on the Wallabies wing, said the support at Accor Stadium came from the way Charles had treated people for years.
“allow yourself to kind of be proud of just, you know, the impact that you’ve had on other people”.
Charles accepted the point and said it would take time. He has always liked doing good things with good people, and he does not want it to be about him.
Nathan Charles is chasing firsts
Mitchell then picked up a line from Charles’s interview with Justin Harrison. Charles had said he wanted to flip the script: fewer last times, more first times.
The first of them came earlier that day, at an iFly indoor skydiving centre with his fiancée Steph’s sons Ollie and Alexander, and his mum.
“It’s not just about me like it’s actually I could do something for the 50th time but if someone’s and they get that experience for the first time the smile and the enjoyment on their faces like that means a lot to me.”
A bigger first is booked. In December and January he is going to the UK and the United States.
“gonna go along to a few Prem games in UK, NBA, NFL and stuff in the US and um just do some really cool things along the way, have fun.”
The bad days and the mates who end them
Charles does not pretend every day is like that.
“on those bad days, the fact that I’ve got such good people around me, it’s not going to take long for someone to go, ‘Mate, come on, get out of bed. Let’s go do something. Let’s just have a chat.’ and they’ll turn things around.”
He was born with cystic fibrosis and still played four Tests. He says that gave him a head start on the mental side, because he has “been through a pretty significant life uh adversity already”.
If he lets a bad spot spiral, he said, it only gets worse.
What the Nathan Charles foundation is for
The foundation would carry a message he has used for years.
“no matter what adversity you’re facing, you shouldn’t be judged by that, but instead of how you choose to face it and overcome it.”
“So, um, with all those things, we’re starting up a foundation to sort of, uh, do that. And I think that’ll be my purpose to drive that and you know leave a little legacy um as well.”
No name or launch date has been announced yet. The panel offered to help with whatever it needs, and Charles said he is open to anything that is fun and raises awareness.
The club rugby he loved most
Matt Giteau, 103 Tests, asked him for his greatest memory as a player. The first thing that came to mind was his starting debut for the Wallabies against the All Blacks in Sydney. The best, he said, was club rugby at Sydney University, where nobody was paid and everyone turned up because they wanted to.
One teammate got a special mention.
“Hugh [McMeniman] um really reignited my love for rugby um just because his attitude”.
McMeniman’s message to him, as Charles told it, was that it was only a game.
The diagnosis-day pokies win
On the day of the diagnosis, Steph asked him what he wanted to do. He wanted a sticky-carpet RSL and a poker machine.
“I ended up getting up about 300 bucks. So, had a couple beers”.
He is also looking for a comeback line for anyone who asks, in passing, whether he has been well. One suggestion from the panel was “never been better, mate”.
Kick Offs and Kick Ons has the full interview on YouTube, from 45:22.
Your turn: the first on his list
The indoor skydive is done and the UK and US trip is booked.
What would you put next on his list? The comments are open.
Frequently asked
Is Nathan Charles starting a foundation?
Yes. He told Kick Offs and Kick Ons on 19 October 2026 that he is starting a foundation to inspire people facing adversity. No name or launch date has been announced.
How many Tests did Nathan Charles play?
Four, in 2014 and 2015, as a hooker. He was born with cystic fibrosis.
Where did Nathan Charles play club rugby?
At Sydney University in the Shute Shield, which he named as the source of his best memories in the game.
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