BY CURTIS WOODWARD

This is the impossible conversation and almost too hard to write because no matter what – people will disagree with whatever is written below.

On one side is the late journalist Rebecca Wilson who tragically lost her life after a private battle with cancer. On the other is NRL player Kieran Foran, someone who tried to kill himself on painkillers as he went through the darkest stage of his life. Sometimes player managers, like the spin doctors they are, will roll out the depression card when a player screws up in the public eye. This is different. Foran actually attempted suicide.

“I wanted out. About 1.30am I remember driving in my car, thinking in my head what way I was going to kill myself,” Foran previously told News Corp.

“I ended up driving back to my apartment, where I was staying in the city. I had a batch of left-over pills that were pain-killing medication. I tried to basically overdose. I remember the week vividly. I had been struggling, I had a lot going on. Trying to work through my relationship breakdown, with two young kids, with my ex-partner, while juggling football.

“I just wasn’t coping. I could see I was starting to lose hope on life, really. I just couldn’t see that light at the end of the tunnel.

“I just remember one late Thursday night it all got too much for me.”

While Foran has begun his journey back via the New Zealand Warriors, long from the prying eyes of Sydney, Wilson is sadly no longer with us. Her passing shocked everyone because most people didn’t know what she was going through.

Foran’s troubles, which included a messy split from the mother of his children, a gambling addiction and deep depression, were all played out in the media. Day after day, Foran’s life, all of it, was reported to the masses including details of his personal TAB account. Lawsuits were on their way. Many of the stories at the time came from the late Rebecca Wilson.

It is little surprise that a player in Foran’s position would have a verbal confrontation with a journalist over these continued stories. Quite simply, it’s the nature of the beast. Show me a journalist who says player and journalist don’t have heated exchanges and I’ll show you a liar.

The problem here is, we don’t actually know what Foran said to Wilson.

https://twitter.com/Danger_Anger/status/832221289251115009

https://twitter.com/Titan1996Fan/status/832185111894298625

John Hartigan savages NRL over Kieran Foran's abusive call to his late wife NRL condoning violence

— Marie Coleman AO PSM (@MarieColemanAO) February 16, 2017

And here is where shit really hits the fan.

On Thursday, after the NRL had approved Foran’s return at the Warriors, Wilson’s widowed husband John Hartigan told The Sydney Morning Herald of alleged phone calls and texts from the five-eigth to Wilson before her death.

“That abuse caused great hurt and pain to my wife in the last days of her life,” Hartigan said.

“It appears the NRL has given him the green light despite his behaviour. If they really have standards, for the sake of having a supposed star in the mix, they’ve dropped the flag.”

Until we see what was said between Foran and Wilson – what do we really know?

And the question remains, how would Foran have known Wilson was dying like some on social media are mistakenly implying?

Some have even labelled it domestic violence which was also implied by Andrew Webster who wrote the story.

This simply isn’t true.

This was a player versus a journalist.

Unless we see some evidence of what Foran said, most of it doesn’t matter.

What does matter is a man is grieving after losing his wife while another man is trying to put the shattered pieces of his life back together.

Any other conclusion is ridiculous.

@woodward_curtis