Snide remarks, backstabbing and hostile replacements, former cricket WAG Haley Bracken has lifted the lid on secrets of the wives and girlfriends club, or, as she calls it, the “viper’s nest”.
The wife of ex-cricketer Nathan Bracken has given a tell-all interview to The Daily Telegraphy about what the world of WAGS is really like – and what happens in ‘The Box’.
The mother-of-two was quick to sell out the rest of the wives and girlfriends as being bitchy and competitive, remarking that they were often looking to ‘replace’ each other.
“It was the snide remarks, the little quips, just the whole feeling of the place, because everyone was competing against each other,” Haley told The Daily Telegraph.
“Everyone has this misconception that the cricket team is so close and it is a brotherhood. Nothing could be further from the truth,” she added.
The hypnotherapist also shed light on the hierarchy in the club, commenting that the higher your husband’s spot on the team was, the higher you were and that former-WAG, Lara Bingle, always had a “target on her back”
“Cricket Australia pitted these men against each other for their spots. And that ultimately filtered down to the partners,” she revealed.
Before adding: “there is this constant feeling of ‘Well, this person is going to take your spot’. That pressure creates a rivalry [with the partners].”
Haley and her husband, Nathan, at the Allen Border Medal in 2006.
The only WAG exempt from the net of lies and deceit, according to Haley, was Ricky Ponting’s wife, Rianna, who would take the time to show the new girls around and “show them the ropes”.
“There is this expectation you will do this, you will do that, you will dress a certain way,” Haley said of the WAG environment.
“I refused to be put in a box,” she said.
This explosive interview comes just a week after commentator and cricket legend, Ian Healy, accused the wives and girlfriends club of being behind the Aussie’s recent Ashes loss.
“All their partners are here and some of the most respected cricketers I played with hated that distraction,” Ian said during his commentary in the Fourth Test, “They weren’t allowed on tour until after the series had been won. Your mind needs to be completely focused on it. Cricket is a sport that requires complete concentration. You need everything going for you and I’m not sure they’re pushing for that hard enough. Their hearts might not be that strong … are they together as a team?”
But it seems that was a comment that Haley was all too happy to agree with.
“Ian Healy was probably on the money blaming the WAGS for the cricket defeat. That box was like a viper pit at times.”
