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Poor Paul Gallen… earning so many hundreds of thousands of dollars, captaining your state to Origin glory, World Cup glory for your country… life seems tough.
Before anyone decides to have a go at me because he is suffering from depression and that I don’t know what he is going through, yes, I do know what depression is like. I have been down that path a number of years ago.
But this piece is not about his depression. This is about why, I believe, he deserves no sympathy for his recent actions.
MORE:
» Paul Gallen’s punishment was over the top
» Reports NRL gave Gallen $80,000 for legal fees
» Rugby League’s full circle relationship with Paul Gallen
Those recent actions were getting on the sauce overseas, learning of the sacking of Cronulla Sharks CEO Steve Noyce, then sending out a tweet, with the main point being dropping the C-bomb towards the NRL, his employer.
Sure, it seems harmless, but name me an business or industry where image is everything and you can call your boss that. For example, if he was a teacher, he’d be sacked on the spot.
$50,000 out of pocket seems harsh for an incident which seems not as bad as previous ones in recent years. For example Mitchell Pearce at Kings Cross, and the Konrad Hurrell video incident.
But look at his record.
In 2009 he called Micky Pea, a St George Illawarra forward, a “black c…”, as well as a squirrel grip tackle, and the infamous one-two boxing style attack on Nate Myles, as well as the forceful swinging arm in State Of Origin… then of course there is the drugs circus with ASADA.
Many were amazed in 2012 when he made 300+ and played 80 minutes in the front row to win the second State Of Origin. Now we know he was playing with performance-enhancing drugs in his body.
Since that infamous press conference early last year up to the time of the players taking the deal, from recollection, I have not heard once Gallen take responsibility for being a drug cheat.
As a human being, you are responsible for what goes into your body, no matter what the case. He has passed the blame on to others for the last 20 odd months and has instead been bitter at the NRL for what has happened to the Cronulla Sharks, when it really had nothing to do with the NRL.
Take Cameron Smith as an example. The Melbourne Storm were stripped of two premierships thanks to the Salary Cap rorting, and were banned from accumulating premiership points in 2010. Did he bad mouth then CEO David Gallop and the NRL? No. He just got on with it, like the rest of the team, and two years later the Storm won the competition.
My opinion? He is a drug cheat and his reputation is forever tarnished. But others seem to think he is an icon of the game, a legend, a future immortal even… why that is beggars belief, but each to their own.
But in the E-World we live in, he knew full well what he was doing when sending out that tweet, and given the fact he has really refused to co-operate with the NRL in recent times, and the fact that the younger generation look up to him, the fine for calling his boss what he did is suffice.
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