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After James Graham’s alleged biting incident in the grand final, and the Bulldogs’ shameful “Mad Monday” performance, now we’ll see if John Grant, the chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, has the leadership to make them pay.
When Grant took office eight months ago, he gave the impression he was power-hungry by flicking David Gallop as the chief exec with four years to go on his new contract.
It was a poor taste decision.
Gallop had kept rugby league moving forward despite so many wrong-doings and bad image publicity, expecially player behaviour off-field.
Gallop did a fantastic job under extreme pressure for a decade, and was repaid for all his yeoman service by being shown the door.
Bad call.
So Grant is behind the eight-ball as a decision-maker of import.
First call, ignore Canterbury’s request to have the Graham hearing put off until Thursday because of the club’s presentation night,
Reschedule the hearing for the original Wednesday night to show who is running the code. The charge is so serious.
The alleged biting incident must be Grant’s comeback. If Graham is found guilty, his suspension must be meaningful and heavy.
Two years.
There will never be another biting incident.
As for the “Mad Monday” stupidity, the players showed no respect to coach Des Hasler for what he has achieved in his first season, turning an ordinary side that finished ninth in 2011 into capturing the minor premiership and reaching the grand final.
The players showed no respect towards Todd Greenberg who has done such a superb job as chief exec in changing club culture, only to have it torn down yesterday.
And to top it off, the players showed no respect to their club, their code, their fans, their sponsors, and obviously to themselves.
Grant must find out who the culprits were and fine those responsibile $100,000 each, payable to charity.
There will be no more “Mad Mondays” of disrepute.
It’s timely to recall David Gallop stripped the Melbourne Storm of their 2007 and 2009 premierships, as well as their 2006, 2007, and 2008 minor premierships over rorting the salary cap.
That took enormous courage from Gallop, and the Storm proved on Sunday they have shown similar courage to fight back and again win a decider.
Now is the litmus test to see what courage John Grant can bring to the table.