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I realise they are immensely popular vehicles, methods of interacting with friends, family and even fans but Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are not doing a whole lot of good for our NRL players.
Perhaps some serious thought should be put into barring our younger and less experienced campaigners from engaging in these forms of communication.
If I were a leading coach in the modern game (and I thank the Lord I’m not sir!) I would be highlighting the past fortnight’s drama involving sacked Canberra star Josh Dugan in an urgent meeting with my club’s social media manager.
Problems keep recurring on social media – particularly with our younger and more gung-ho footballers – and it seems to me that two or three year bans should be built into contracts until the required sense of responsibility kicks in.
May I state here that even though I am older than many Roarers, I appreciate the immediacy and intimacy these social tools can have between players and their fans but too many youngsters are getting into serious strife due to misuse and it’s time to draw a proverbial line in the sand.
I hear all of the NRL clubs conduct regular lectures outlining the potential pitfalls of social media and by and large they are being heeded.
But every few weeks a new scandal seems to erupt and the perpetrator (and hence the code) is hammered unmercifully in the mainstream media.
It seems the message isn’t getting through to the ones that matter most. Some might be painfully slow learners. others might be incapable of learning at all.
The Dugan affair was particularly unsavoury. The player took umbrage at a critic and let fly with some very pithy stuff involving the critic’s so-called “Missus” and wound up with the suggestion the critic should “end yourself”.
This came a week or so after Dugan attended a Canberra Raiders players’ forum embracing the dangers of social media.
The player had earlier posted a compromising photo of himself with a bottle in hand at a time when the club was trying to pick itself up from a poor start to the season.
In short, Dugan lacked the maturity and common sense to keep his thoughts to himself. He has paid a hefty price as Canberra terminated his contract and a potential suitor, Brisbane, dropped off talks in disgust.
It makes sense our younger brigade of league players should be protected from themselves.
Leave the Tweeting, Facebook entries and Instagramming to the more senior members of their clubs. If they stuff up, well, at least they were fully aware of the consequences.
Urge these up-and-comers to concentrate solely on building their careers and not their media profiles. Only good can come from that.
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