Troy Reardon was 23, weighed 65 kilograms, and was using ice every day when a friend knocked on his window one night and told him there was a rehab centre waiting for him. That moment, and the community that made it possible, is why the 33-year-old Maroubra landscaper and youth mentor is still alive today.
Reardon has been sober for nearly a decade. He is now a homeowner, a business owner and a father. He runs a fitness and mentoring programme called Side by Side at Maroubra Beach, has spoken at schools including Waverley College, and is launching a gambling support group that drew 100 sign-ups within 24 hours of being announced.
The through-line connecting all of it is a single group of people: the Bra Boys, the Maroubra surf community whose unwavering support, in his telling, is the reason he is here at all.
“Without some of my Bra Boy friends, I would not be sober today,” Reardon says. “They would drive me to rehab. They took me to detox. They answered the call every single day.”
Growing Up in Maroubra
Reardon grew up in public housing near Maroubra Beach, in a suburb that has always meant something particular. For those who know it, Maroubra is not just a beach. It is a community with a deep, sometimes complicated identity, shaped by generations of working-class families, a fierce local loyalty and the kind of bonds formed when people grow up in proximity and necessity.
That environment, at its best, produces exactly the kind of connection that saved Reardon’s life. At its most difficult, it was also the context he was navigating as a child.
“I’d come home at the age of 8 and have to resuscitate people who had overdosed in the hallway,” he recalls. His father was largely absent. His mother, who worked three jobs to provide for him, was dealing with her own addiction. Born with a rare birthmark on his head, Reardon was also a target for bullies from a young age, and by 16 he had found a temporary solution in gambling.
“It numbed me. It was a sense of relief. I’d found the solution to my insecurity around my birthmark, my childhood,” he said.
The gambling gave way to cocaine and ecstasy. A first stint in rehab at 19 was followed by a turn to ice. The violence that ran alongside his addiction left him with serious physical injuries, including a stabbing to the jugular in an argument at the beach. He describes the hospitalisation visits across that period as simply “out of this world.”
The Community That Pulled Him Back
The Bra Boys were founded in Maroubra in the 1990s, cemented in the suburb’s surf culture and in the postcode pride that the name reflects. “Bra” is a shortened reference to Maroubra, and partly to the street slang for brother. Members tattoo “My Brother’s Keeper” across the chest, “Bra Boys” and the Maroubra postcode 2035 across their backs.
The 2007 documentary Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water, written and directed by members including Sunny Abberton and narrated by Russell Crowe, introduced the group to a national and international audience, drawing on the stories of the Abberton brothers, particularly the surfing notoriety of Koby Abberton.
The group has never been straightforward. Its history includes serious criminal convictions, links to organised crime investigations and documented violence. Reardon does not pretend his years within that world were free of harm. “It was carnage,” he says simply.
But the Bra Boys are also defined by a code of loyalty and mutual support that is real and documented, and it was that side of the group that reached Reardon when he needed it most.
The friend who knocked on his window, who drove him to detox and answered calls during the darkest periods, embodied what the “My Brother’s Keeper” motto has always meant in practice.
“I was super-emotional but I told myself I was going to be OK,” Reardon said of the night he finally accepted help. “I stopped taking drugs but I was still so lost. I knew it was the right choice but the happiness wasn’t there straight away. I just had to go day by day and trust the process.”
From Surviving to Mentoring Hundreds
Nearly a decade of sobriety has given Reardon a platform and a purpose. He now runs a fitness and mentoring program at Maroubra Beach, using his story to connect with young people and steer them away from the path he once took. The program works alongside The 400 Club and other community based fitness groups.
Reardon also leads Side by Side, which builds on this work, and regularly speaks at schools including Waverley College, where his lived experience resonates with students from similar backgrounds.
Giving Back to the Community
He is preparing to launch a gambling support group, which attracted 100 expressions of interest in a single day. The response reflects both the scale of the issue and the trust he has built within the community.
Reardon continues to live in Maroubra by choice, staying close to the place that shaped his life and supported his recovery.
“I’ve broken the cycle,” he said. “My son will never go through what I did.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015 (free call, 24 hours). For gambling support, contact Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858. For mental health support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Published 26-April-2026
