Wales broke the news to wife Loretta and his five children after tests revealed prostate cancer in the 62-year-old Myrtleford Alpine Saints president.

"To be quite honest, and my wife finds this hard to believe, I've always half-expected something like this was going to happen," Wales said.

"My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the mid-80s and he was nearly the same age as I am now.

"The specialist who was looking after him in Wangaratta sat me and my brother down and said to us, we believe it's genetic, there's nothing proven yet but there's a strong link between generations and my advice to you would be, from the age of 50, get yourself checked.

"So when it first came back, I was saying 'this is cancer, it's not going to be something in there that's just nothing.'

"I knew it was cancer and sure enough, it came back and it was.

"The doctor said 'I'm not going to beat around the bush' so I looked at him and said 'if there's something there, I want to know what it is and how we're going to go about fixing it.'

"I'm not the sort of person to put my head in the sand, I want to know the facts.

"It didn't really rattle me but the hard part is always going to tell your family. That's the tough bit.

"Lots of men can accept bad news but it's telling people you care about that you don't like doing.

"I'm pretty direct, I just said 'this is what I've got' but it's when they get upset that you get upset."

Wales, speaking out to raise awareness of prostate cancer, stumbled upon his own diagnosis by agreeing to take part in a trial after an unrelated check-up with his doctor in Myrtleford.

Blood tests were followed by a digital examination and then an MRI scan which revealed something that concerned the medics.

Wales had a biopsy and when that came back positive, it was decision time.

"He gave me two options, he said you can either go radiotherapy or have it removed," Wales said.

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"He was 80 percent (in favour of) having it removed and I said 'that's fine, you're the expert, but tell me why you say that.'

"He said 'if it's removed and it comes back a few years down the track, we can do radiotherapy then, but if we do radiotherapy now, and it comes back a few years down the track, at this stage there's no other options for us, you've just got to sit it out and pray, basically.'

"I said 'I want as many back-up plans as you've got!'

"I'd much rather be in the situation I'm in now than to have gone over there and be told to tidy up a few things and say goodbye to everyone because you've only got 12 months.

"The earlier the better, I've always thought that."

Wales has spoken with sons Hugh, Ethan, Elijah and Wayland about their own health journey, in light of recent events, and he's urged all men to seek more information and, above all, talk.

"How many other people are walking around like me?' Wales said.

"Since my friends have found out, in a group, they'll say nothing but individually they'll come up to me and ask 'what were your symptoms?'

"There's another bloke who's too scared to say anything.

"But if you get it early enough and you get another 20 years, isn't that the whole point of it?

"My sons have seen what I've gone through but I've had 60 years of next to nothing and a pretty good life so far, so if I've got to put up with three months of discomfort, to get another 20 years of not a bad life, I'll take that every day of the week."

Wales will step down as Myrtleford president at the end of the season.

"It's time to take my wife on a couple of holidays through the winter," he said.

"I still think I'm only about 30, but this is my body's way of telling me to do some of those things now, rather than putting them off.

"The club's in a very good position, on and off the field. For the first time I've known, the football side is looking at having three teams in finals.

"Financially, we're in a good spot, netball's in a good spot, with two teams pushing for finals, so if there's someone out there, male or female, half-thinking about it (the presidency), it's an exciting time to take over."

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