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

A court battle between former NRL player Ethan Lowe and the game's insurer has been shown videos of the premiership-winning forward jet skiing and dancing as he claims he suffered a serious and permanent injury following a career-ending tackle.

Mr Lowe, 33, has launched Federal Court action against the NRL's insurer, Lloyd's of London, after it determined he was ineligible for a policy covering paralysis.

During his eight years in the NRL, Mr Lowe carved out a reputation as a hard-nosed forward and made his State of Origin debut in 2019.

But the following year, at 29, his career was cut short when he suffered a serious spinal injury in the Rabbitohs' round 10 loss to Newcastle in a seemingly innocuous tackle.

The case is centred on whether Mr Lowe satisfied the definition of paralysis under the policy, after Lloyd's of London denied him access.

Lloyd's of London has also raised whether a previous injury contributed to Mr Lowe's condition.

The court heard Mr Lowe suffered a spinal injury in September 2016 when pressure was placed on the back of his head in a crusher tackle, causing disc protrusion.

He returned to the field early in 2017.

'Once that surgery has been performed, we say that is the resolution of that injury,' Mr Lowe's barrister, Callan O'Neill, told the court on Monday.

Mr O'Neill said, in his opening submissions, that Mr Lowe was given medical advice that his risk of re-injury was no greater than prior to the first injury because he was not suffering from neurological symptoms.

'This man had no injury and he was playing at the highest level,' Mr O'Neill said.

But in July 2020, he suffered another injury when pressure was again applied to his neck, this time in a tackle as he took a hit-up in the first half of their round 10 loss to the Knights.

He played on for another 60 minutes, 'courageously' Mr O'Neill said, but it caused a protrusion on the C5/6 discs on the left side of his spinal cord, the court heard.

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

He did not play again that year and was forced to hang up his boots at season's end.

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

He says the left side of his body was left severely weakened by the injury, including suffering 'claw hand' on his left hand.

During his evidence, Mr Lowe was questioned about his ability to perform physical and everyday tasks.

On day one of a hearing in the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday, the court was played a video, shot by the South Sydney club promoting the Sunshine Coast, in which Mr Lowe was seen riding a jet ski.

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

The court was also shown a video of Mr 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 remained active and still lifts weights at the gym, including being able to squat 80kg.

However, he said that was significantly less than the 160kg he was able to squat during his playing career.

And he said that he was able to lift significantly less weight using his left limbs compared to his right, sometimes half as much.

Neurologist Rowena Mobbs told the court that Mr Lowe satisfied the diagnosis of hemiplegia on the grounds that he suffered from 'severe weakness' on his left side.

Under-cross examination, she agreed that she made a mistake in a report by describing Mr Lowe as suffering near paralysis.

Mr Lowe made 143 NRL appearances, including starting in the second-row in North Queensland's 2015 Grand Final win, as well as making one appearance for Queensland in the 2019 State of Origin decider.

The hearing continues before Justice Ian Jackman.