Do the Roosters have a culture problem?

100% correct Scotty, The Roosters are not at the top in this department, but they are far from the bottom either when you look at some of the other clubs. Didn't seem to hear quite the hysteria when John Sutton and Luke Burgess belted someone up in the States or when JT got into a scuffle with police in 2010, arrested for causing a public nuisance in Brisbane. The incidents at Bondi have been relatively minor over the last couple of years in comparison. A bit specious of you to suggest Jake I hate to say that some of those players you mentioned are part of the Roosters culture problem when they happened at other clubs.

Think Brett Kimmorley,Anthony Minichello,Jason King,David Simmons,Shane Webke Stacey Jones,DCE,Petero Civenoceva et al,don't seem to have a problem having played NRL .As good as any human being one could meet. All boils down to the character of the person ,whether he or she is easily led,or cannot handle alcohol.

Futhermore, the players you listed above: Blake Ferguson - Happened at Canberra, roosters had him back after counselling and helping out around the club. Nose has been clean since Jake Friend - Had a few indiscretions ill admit, so the roosters sacked him for 12 months and since he has been back his nose is clean. Shaun Kenny-Dowall - Still innoccent until proven guilty, besides that DV charge, has been clean since being at the roosters. Michael Jennings - One indiscretion of kicking a boom gate, not exactly reckless behaviour Nate Myles - Can't defend his actions Joel Monaghan - Happened while he was at Canberra Sonny Bill Williams - Not to sure which incident your referring to when he was at the roosters in 2013 and 2014? Sandor Earl - Wasn't at the roosters when the drug charges were laid. Todd Carney - He was sacked by the roosters for off field behaviour. Don't really see a problem with the culture here? Pearce was inexcusable but aside from babysitting every player in the squad and stand guard outside their house i don't see much more the roosters could of done?

A lot of other clubs have had several indiscretions off the field. The roosters are i admit, not the best, but far from the worse. Bit short sighted to claim that there is a cultural issue when there is only ONE player currently in their squad that has had more than one indiscretion in the past two years.

No good trying to single out one club. All have had their problems to a greater or lesser degree. It used to be that such behaviour was regarded as ok and was able to be covered up. No more, however the teams and clubs are run by people of that generation, added to which is the reluctance internally to admitting there is a problem individually or collectively. Making a perfect storm are young peoples' sense of entitlement and lack of responsibility by some. It appears that the Roosters did their best, I believe Pearce was given a taxi chit to go home and didn't. Therefore it is solely down to him, don't blame the club. I add here I am not a Roosters fan. They have to have meaningful consequences for their actions. De Registration springs to mind as if sacked by the Roosters I have no doubts several clubs would have him. As shown by Dugan and Ferguson. There is still Union to consider as well as Super League. There needs to be punishment by the Integrity Unit and MOU's with Union and English League. Once players start being De Registered the penny will drop. In fairness there can be varying lengths of ban.

Are you happy and safe in the knowledge that if your boy plays NRL he will develop into the all rounded man in life that will be successful and make you proud?

Although there have been more then one of these indiscretions at the famous Bondi club in recent times, there hasn't been much vindication on the part of their fans which to their support, I don't understand why they should be outraged. The club after all is doing really well winning lots of games and performing much better then their rival counter parts. I feel that If there isn't really a problem, they shouldn't go around fixing things that aren't broken.

I was thinking a similar thing Sam

Rebecca Wilson was out in force from Day 1 with this incident. I saw her on Sunrise telling the world what a disgrace Pearce was. Quick to tell all and sundry that he should never play football again. You missed all that?? You must be a Sharks fan to feel this way. I have always felt they are a little protected with Phil Rothfield their number one fan. And as chief sports writer at the Telegraph, he tends to pick and choose what makes the news. When Carney was at the Roosters we got almost weekly stories of misbehaviour around him. Rothfield made it his mission to end Carney's career, saying he should be in prison. Until, of course, he wound up at the Sharks. And then suddenly he was an angel with Rothfield writing regularly that he had turned his life around. Despite stories of heavy boozing and partying in the shire from locals. Rothfield had now decided it wasn't in the best interests of Carney (but mainly for his team) to print these stories. And when it came to ASADA and the Sharks, Rothfield was terribly quiet. Instead filling his columns with stories of Gallen helping old men down escalators. If it was any other side involved in the drama he would have been the most vocal admonishing the club. I have no issue with the Sharks. But certainly having Rothfield in their corner, one of the games most influential voices who is happy to print unfounded rumours to bring down a player/club, is very beneficial.

Pat ... Society teaches kids from day dot that they are not responsible for their actions and there is very little consequence , the same way they are now teaching them there is very little difference between winning or losing . Respect , discipline , opinion and individualism have all become dirty words in recent times.

Well to be fair ...Fergo wasn't at the Roosters at the time , SKD is still innocent where I come from , Jake Friends problems aren't exactly recent and Michael Jennings kicked a parking meter or a boom gate or something similar ,,,,not exactly a who's who of Australia's most wanted now are they ...

Wasn't that done in the article???

Bourbon Bec should be quiet on this issue. With multiple drink driving convictions she has had her own issues with alcohol

I'm willing to accept what you say Matt if you can put the " so many indiscretions " comment into perspective by itemising them please .

If this was a one of incident I would agree, but the Roosters have had so many indiscretions lately common sense must dictate something stinks from within. Something or someone must look at why their players have such a sense of entitlement and arrogance. It is bigger than handing out "taxi vouchers" and saying on your way. The bigger issue is the newly appointed captain is leading the charge of violating team rules and taking two new (and young) recruits with him. Who appoints a captain that is such a "loose cannon" this and the many other incidents scream culture problem. Anti-social behaviours is acceptable and is being lead by the newly appointed Captain. Sorry Roosters supporters - you should be outraged and someone brave in management needs to stand up and admit their is a problem in Roosters Leadership.

She was hardly in a position to lecture on moral living either but that never stopped her. My point is she and others are happy to go after the "Sharks" but not a word re "Roosters". Why are they selective?

Sadly Kaks, that is it. Canberra wanted players like Dugan and Ferguson out for a while before being allowed back in. But no. We'll be good boys and to his credit, little has been heard of Dugan since he went to the Dragons.

There is not much more a club can do,than provide a player(26 years of age) after a few drinks with a Cabcharge card to go home.He decides in a semi inebriated stated to continue on at a private home. The guys drunken behaviour was appalling,a black mark on the code despite the code through no fault of theirs.He deserves a hefty penalty ,and the head of the integrity Unit Karen Murphy( a former female cop of 25 years experience with domestic issues)will make a hard decision. The grubby behaviour that followed Pearce's insane act of stupidity was the guy who took the vide in a private home and sold it to the highest bidder. And ch9 and News only confirmed their commercial grubbiness, by their willingness to pay for said videos,confirming they are sensationalists out for ratings and sales period. As to the culture in the Roosters IMO no worse than any other NRL club,and probably no worse than general society with young males. There are a lot of things that go on behind closed doors at parties when too much drink is consumed ,even at the ANZ Banks financial centre where no drink was available.I look at music festivals see young women blind drunk as well as guys,some drugged up,who knows what goes on after. Why did they refuse people coming into bars at the Cross after 1pm. Society has an alcohol problem ,some indulging in far more than necessary.Now drugs is added to the mix.Abuse of alcohol leads to domestic violence(and according to the Rape Crisis centre the North Shore has more than its fair share),dumb acts like Pearce and acts of violence like the one punch low lifes. I still am dumbfounded why a professional athlete ,who wants to perform at his best week in week out,finds it necessary to get on the hit and miss to undo all the preparatory work he has put in,to get into the required physcial and mental state. Education within the NRL,a strong CEO and club having good governance and TBF some players should never be taken on board ,when they have a track record of atrocities.

Not to mention Sonny Bill Williams had already stopped drinking alcohol before joining the Roosters as he had converted to Islam a few years prior. And I am only aware of Joel Monaghan playing up once in his career, and that was after he had left the Roosters (to return to Canberra). Jake Friend was once sacked by the Roosters and lived a normal life for a year or two before getting a life-line from the Roosters. I am not aware of him getting in trouble again. With all this said, no matter what club any of us support, I'd want our respective teams to act strongly on cultural issues (even if there are only few incidents) as opposed to be defensive/protective.

Many of the players mentioned in this article either committed their indescretions at other clubs or under different coaches ( mainly Brian Smith). Since Trent Robinson took over at the start of 2013, the Roosters culture has been cleaned up considerably. There are plenty of other clubs that have much more toxic cultures