If the only time a person can be brave is when they're afraid then Kane Evans will never do a braver thing than open himself to the world and now rugby league must rise to his level of courage.Evans, a former Roosters, Eels and Warriors prop who played in the NRL between 2014 and 2021, came out as gay on Monday night during an interview with Channel Nine's 100% Footy.Revealing the secret he's carried inside himself for decades, even as he was doing it, was his "worst nightmare"."I had three goals in life — to play NRL, to buy my parents a house and then I was going to top myself," Evans said."Because I was living in denial That's where the game — not the NRL, but the wider rugby league community itself — must follow Evans's example.It must have the courage to create an environment where everyone who calls the sport home feels safe to do what Evans could not for so long and be their true selves.It will be a challenge because, for a game founded on egalitarianism with a strong history in some areas of cultural and racial diversity, rugby league's track record in the LGBTQI+ space is decidedly mixed.The rugby league community should be proud to have men like Roberts, Thomas and Hirst in it, as it should be proud of Evans now