It’s a time when NRL fans should only be filled with an overwhelming sense of anticipation for the first round of the season proper but once again off-field dramas are taking centre stage.
Instead of column inches being filled by the build up of what should be a cracker of a match between the Dragons and the Storm this Friday night they’ve been filled with lurid allegations.
We’ve seen the return of Todd Carney in his role as the antithesis of a model NRL player despite him actually being ineligible to perform that duty anymore. It seems Carney has successfully pulled off the exact opposite of the NRL’s inspirational “Park to Premiership” campaign.
A Wests Tigers feeder team did their bit to revive memories of why the Bulldogs shouldn’t visit Coffs Harbour anymore and now the NRL has been forced to hold back some of its advertising campaign for the upcoming season pending a police investigation.
It must have been a surreal week for Brett Stewart. First it seemed he had come of age as one of the games true stars as a poster boy for the upcoming season but by the end of it he was facing sexual assault allegations.
Now he’s not only facing a police investigation there’s a chance he won’t play until the matter is resolved. Not an ideal situation for one of the games most exciting players. Unfortunately it’s becoming a regular occurrence for the games fans to be denied the chance to see the likes of Greg Bird and even Carney in action because of their off-field indiscretions.
Perhaps it’s time that the de-registration of individual players and internal club sanctions such as fines and community service stints that conveniently fit in with marketing plans are replaced by the deduction of competition points.
We know that since the Bulldogs contravened the salary cap in 2002 and had 37 competition points stripped from them that no other club has dared to emulate them. The $150,000 fine handed to the Belmore based club for bringing the game into disrepute following the Coffs Harbour incident was little more than a slap on the wrist compared to the sponsorship dollars they lost as a result anyway.
Imagine if the NRL decided to dock teams points each time they brought the game into disrepute? Regardless of what Brett Stewart did or didn’t do after he left Manly’s season launch, if there happened to be points on the line he wouldn’t have found himself in that position in the first place.
Competition points are the reason that the players train as often as they do and the reason that they hone their bodies to withstand the rigours of the game. At the end of the day it’s the reason they play the game.
Would Brett Stewart have left the Wharf Hotel in such an apparently unfit state if he’d known there was a chance his behaviour would lead to his team starting the season 20 pints adrift?
Probably not, his fellow ‘playing group’ members would have made sure he got home safe and sound.
Would the up and coming Tigers players have found themselves in a similar position if they knew that their indiscretions may have landed the team they’re aspiring to represent at the bottom of the ladder? Earning the wrath of potential teammates and fans in such a way would put paid to those aspirations anyway.
Rugby League has always thrived on camaraderie and team spirit so maybe the time has come for those qualities to count as much in social settings as they do on the field.
The onus needs to be put on the players to perform.
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