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NRL players should grow up or get out

22nd June, 2015
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Michael Jennings doesn't deserve a Blue jersey this season in his current form. (AAP Image/Joe Castro)
Roar Guru
22nd June, 2015
24
1091 Reads

Even the most ardent of supporters has had a gutful of NRL players and their off-field antics.

Over the weekend the Sydney Roosters stood down State of Origin star Michael Jennings after he was arrested and charged following an alleged incident involving police.

On the surface it doesn’t sound like the worst crime in the world, but when does it end?

It wouldn’t be the same if three or four players weren’t done for DUI in a season, another couple involved in a street fracas here or overseas, throw a domestic violence issue, alleged problems with illicit drug supply for good measure, and who could forget Todd Carney’s ‘bubbler’.

When will players cop the tip? When will the NRL harden its stance on offenders who continually drag the sport’s reputation into the gutter?

The game now has an Integrity Unit, but South Sydney’s pre-season drama in Arizona was hardly investigated at all, it took the work of a journalist to obtain the police report on the matter because the club and players involved tried as hard as they possibly could to sweep the matter under the carpet.

Trying to keep dramas ‘in house’ at clubs is hardly new; it’s been happening since Dally Messenger first laced up a boot. But what’s the point of having an Integrity Unit if they aren’t going to thoroughly investigate issues and come back with a decent penalty to deter future offenders?

In the vast majority of cases, the problems are related to the abuse of alcohol. Clubs should have the ability to insert a clause in a player’s contract that if they are caught in an alcohol-related incident that it gets added to the banned substance list for them. Any future offence should result in a mandatory suspension, or see the player’s contract torn up.

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It’s time for players to wake up to themselves – and spare me the talk about alcohol and drugs being a society issue and these are just young men who are going to make mistakes. Everybody is responsible for their own actions.

I guarantee if you went up to an apprentice carpenter or bricklayer on a building site and offered them $600,000 for the next 10 years of their life they’d find a way to curb their social behaviour in a bid maintain that high level of income. Why should NRL players be any different?

Officials need to adopt a hardline stance regardless of how talented the player may be to show others what levels of behaviour will not be tolerated.

Of course everyone deserves a second chance and each case should be treated on its merits, but are you more likely to reoffend if you spend two years out of the game on no pay? Why should one club be weakened for having the guts to sack a star player only for another to be allowed to pick them up six months later after a supposed ‘rehabilitation period’?

Consistency of penalty is also issue: Paul Gallen gets slugged with a $50,000 fine (later reduced on appeal) for an offensive tweet, yet vision of Konrad Hurrell involved in a sex act sees him cop $5000. Who arrives at these decisions and why isn’t there more transparency involved in explanation of this process?

We keep hearing about how much more physical the game is and how much harder players train. They also get very well paid for it. However, broadcasters are also paying more for TV rights, sponsors are tipping in more cash and fans are paying more to attend games.

They, quite rightly, expect to see a higher level of professionalism on and off the field.

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The moment you sign an NRL contract is the moment you cease to exist as a normal human being, and if players aren’t prepared to act with a higher level of responsibly then they should find themselves another profession.

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