By Steve Jancetic
March 17th 2010 @ 2:26am
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Bulldogs say ta-ta Te Maari
Canterbury’s hardline stance on player behaviour has claimed another victim with little-used backrower Lee Te Maari sacked by the NRL club for repeated breaches of the club’s code of conduct.
The final straw for the Bulldogs was a driving offence Te Maari incurred last month, the club only finding out about the incident when it appeared in court.
Te Maari, who played 33 games for the Bulldogs after being recruited from St George Illawarra in 2007, had his contact torn up after facing the club’s disciplinary tribunal.
The 24-year-old was last month charged with a range of driving offences, including driving without a license.
Those misdemeanours come on the back of previous fines from the club for off-field incidents.
Last year he was fined and stood down following a punch-up with teammates Jamal Idris and Ben Barba, while Te Maari was also involved in a fight outside a Wollongong nightclub in February 2008.
“All players have a clear understanding of the standards of behaviour required to be a part of this club,” Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said.
“Lee has failed to meet our expectations in this regard and we no longer require his services.”
The Bulldogs have gone out of their way to improve the club’s off-field image in recent years with Te Maari joining the likes of fellow bad boys Willie Mason, Reni Maitua and Arana Taumata to be shown the door.
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Crosscoder said | March 17th 2010 @ 10:59am | Report comment
Standards have to be set by clubs,and surely by now players must be pretty dumb,not to realise what is required.I applaud the stance taken by the Dogs.They have set the benchmark,and have a CEO which any club in any code would be proud.
These guys have a sporting opportunity,many of us would have killed for,yet they choose to stuff up,on more than one occasion.they reap what they sew IMO.
JK said | March 17th 2010 @ 11:15am | Report comment
Shame, he showed some potential back in 08 and even at times in 09 when given the opportunity.
oikee said | March 17th 2010 @ 12:03pm | Report comment
At the tender age of 24, you cant really call him a kid any longer. He obviously dont get what the NRL is trying to acheive. Zero tolerence on behaviour issues. Apart from this, the year has been pretty quite. ?
I am waiting for the suinami to arrive.
Mind you, all the talk is about the high level of quality games played last week-end.
Talk about happy, he was going off, you think he just won lotto.
I was watching fox on monday nite, the call-in program, some guy from west tigers rang in,
One game not to miss this weekend, Storm game, we have seen a new wrestling tactic called the crocadile roll. Adam Blair grabs a player around his leg and starts doing 360′s to try to snap his joint. As if we dont already have enough injuries in the game.
What is going on down in Melbourne, 1st they introduced the Chicken Wing, to pull sockets out of arms, then the Crusher tackle to injure players spines, then came the prowler tackle to maine apponants, now this.?
Mate, i saw 3 prowlers on the weekend, one ended up with Junior Seu getting broken ribs. How come nothing is done about this. ?
Dogz R Barkn said | March 17th 2010 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
It’s a shame, but I support the club on this one.
oikee said | March 17th 2010 @ 2:19pm | Report comment
Is that it.? Hey Dogz,! Did you read my post.? What about injuries caused by trying to hurt players. ? What are we all for this until it happens to affect one of our star players, Lockyer, Hayne, Thurston, or even i dare mention Kimmorley. ????
Shout it from the rooftops, this wrestling needs to be stamped out, not as in tackles made, but new moves to injure players. ? What do you think all the other tackles were out to acheive, ? Think about it, the Storm have now been to 4 grand finals, i will say 5 if these numbnuts dont act early. We can all see it happening, why dont we act.