How the Twit was covered by Twitter

I fired up my laptop at about 9:30AM Monday morning, opened Twitter and flicked on Fox Sports News, just to see what was happening. There was a rumour floating around. A bad one.

The rumor was that Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan were involved in an incident in Cronulla the night before.

You need to be careful about Twitter rumours. More than 90% are just rubbish forged in the mind of the delusional trolls. But sometimes, just sometimes, there is a nugget of truth in the 140 character bursts.

I am not a professional journalist (although I hope to be one day), so I don’t have contacts I can hit up for mail, or any channels of communication that would confirm or deny these rumors. So I did the only thing I could do, I reached out to Twitter.

The response to that Tweet was lukewarm. A few people asked what the rumor was. One guy said he thought it was untrue. Surely Ferguson is not dumb enough to go out in Cronulla as soon as he was reunited with Josh Dugan. Remember Cruisergate?

I reassured myself. He’s stupid, but nobody could possibly be that stupid.

Internet credibility is a funny thing. There are thousands of faceless accounts that claim to have ‘inside information’, so you need to take everything with a bag of salt rather than a grain. But there are a few people that have a proven track record, so what they say has a little more weight that just a random crackpot.

Wackos Whispers, in spite of their ridiculous name, is one of those.

It’s a downhill slope from there. Everyone claims to have some info; the rugby league rumor mill goes into overdrive. Not even my mother’s book club spreads gossip like this.

The NSW Origin camp officially began at 10AM. Big League writer Maria Tsialis was at Coogee preparing for the media session.

Anytime a serious allegation is leveled at any rugby league player, I get nervous for reasons that remain unknown to me. When it’s a Raiders player, I channel Russell Crowe’s character from A Beautiful Mind, only with more hallucinations.

From memory the first confirmation of an incident occurring happened a little after 11 o’clock. Fairfax, through LeagueHQ, were the first to say the police are investigating.

Fox Sports News, which statistically is on at least 12 hours a day at my house whether somebody is watching or not, also broke the story. The whispers of Twitter have become reality.

Part of me hoped there had been a mistake, that it was actually Josh Dugan’s fault, and that Ferguson hadn’t relapsed into his trademark idiocy.

Brad Walter, from the Sydney Morning Herald, destroyed these hopes as easily as Dugan and Ferguson destroy defences.

Laurie Daley fronted the media, and he looked pissed. I don’t think I’d ever seen him this angry off the field before. He’ll was livid with the two, no doubt about that.

Ferguson walked out on an Emerging Blues camp before the season started. It was a massive show of faith to select him. Charged or not, guilty or innocent, you would have to think Ferguson has played his last game for NSW.

There was a bit of a lull over the afternoon. I tried to do other stuff, but my mind was on Ferguson. For lack of a better idea, I scoured a few forums looking for either a) pointless reassurance, b) comforting information that will undoubtedly prove to be misguided or c) more news updates.

I found little worth mentioning, apart from an alleged account from somebody who was there. I found it difficult to believe.

Just as I was beginning to hope the story would vanish, Victoria Murphy drops a bombshell.

I know little about the police interview system, but a lifetime of movies tells me if you bring a lawyer, you are in trouble. Speculation abounds as to what will happen next.

I find Danny Weidler’s constant praise of Sonny Bill Williams and Anthony Mundine as distasteful as any man, but he can grab a scoop. He popped up on Channel Nine news, giving some details. It’s not looking good.

It’s funny, when things like this catch hold of the media, I can sometimes forget there is a game to be played. Brisbane kick off against Wests, and it’s an unremarkable game between two unremarkable teams. Still, it’s nice to watch the footy.

Jack Reed scored a ridiculous try. Wests conceded some very soft tries. Aaron Woods showed why he was picked; Ben Hannant showed why he should be.

As the game lurches towards a Bronco victory, it all happened at once.

I guess the interview didn’t go too well for Fergy Ferg.

The charges have been confirmed. He will face court in Waverly on July 17th, the day before Origin 3. David Smith acts swiftly.

Once again, Canberra faces the very real prospect of one of their youngest and brightest starts facing the axe for alcohol fuelled incidents. For the record, I don’t believe they should sack him, even if he is found guilty.

After the Dugan incident, and before that the Todd Carney sacking, it has been proven if the Raiders sack him, he will spend a short time on the sidelines, before signing for another club.

If he is found guilty, then throw the book at him. Fine him, suspend him, and ban him from the drink. But don’t sack him unless you want to see Blake Ferguson as Bronco or a Titan or an Eel.

On Tuesday, Nathan Merritt was named as his replacement. Ferguson’s judgment day was set.

I’ve followed the progression of this story, seen it morph from Internet rumor, to alleged incident, to criminal charge, following it with the kind of obsession only seen in mental patients or sports fanatics.

Ferguson’s Origin debut, his marvelous performances for the Raiders, they all seem very far away now.

The Raiders board have since announced that they will not sack Ferguson, although they are disappointed in his actions.