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See ya Semi. Don’t slam the door on the way out. The news overnight that Parramatta winger Semi Radradra is threatening to leave the NRL because he can’t play for New South Wales beggars belief somewhat.
Not because I don’t think his manager would say that to a journalist. Not because Radradra may not say something like that to his manager.
It’s because all along the line, there is plausible denial. Radradra can claim he didn’t say it to the manager and the manager can deny suggesting it to the reporter.
Everyone gets their piece of the pie without even admitting they took a bite.
Radradra needs a pay rise, the manager has a topical platform to get one for him and Channel Seven gets a story… all with, as I said, plausible denial.
The changes that have occurred in rugby league reporting, even in the two years since I stopped doing the round as a news man, have been profound. Almost no rugby league hard news story these days has a quote in it. If it does, the quote is nowhere near the top and is merely a box-ticking exercise to illustrate the rumour was checked out.
The fact is, a story with a prominent quote can be ripped off in five minutes. If it’s not confirmed, there is more benefit to the originating outlet because others will have to name that outlet and maybe even the journalist concerned.
Now this practice has even spread to television. Once upon a time, television needed pictures to have a story – they needed someone saying something. But if Semi Radradra’s manager had told my colleague Josh Massoud on camera that his client was ready to walk, websites, news agencies and newspapers could simply run the quotes without crediting Josh or Channel Seven.
That’s not to say he didn’t try to get someone on camera. But the more mysterious and clandestine it all sounds, the more traction the story has.
Which is not to say anyone has acted improperly. It’s a good story. That’s the paradigm in which we all work today.
Radradra for NSW is a non-issue, a non-story, so daft an international rugby league zealot like myself couldn’t even get riled up about it. You might say I could only muster a semi.
We stiffened (oops, sorry) the rules for State of Origin a couple of years back so there could be no more sniggering about Greg Inglis being from Bowraville, no more such as Jimmy Tamou and Akuila Uate who came to NSW as footballers and didn’t grow up there.
Suggesting the new rule be changed for one good new player is nothing but populist pap.
Credit to Billy Moore on NRL 360 for saying he wants to see Radradra play for Fiji in next year’s World Cup and prove his greatness by making the Bati competitive.
It’s not 1986, Toto. Every player in the premiership is not a New South Welshman or a Queenslander anymore. Trying to jam them into an anacronistic 20th-century representative structure just puts the game back in the 20th century.
I am told the new NRL CEO still gave the idea some credence in a radio interview on Monday night – hilarious.
Sure, it’s disappointing the players themselves don’t respect our young, shaky international structure yet. It’s a shame Radradra does not believe he can be great playing for Fiji. But $30,000 per Origin game will do that.
Credit also to Laurie Daley for dismissing the notion of changing the rules for one bloke.
But when Daley and Kevin Walters were asked by Ben Ikin if Origin players should be permitted to represent other countries for which they properly qualify, they each said no.
They weren’t pressed on why.
I’m yet to hear a good answer for that one beyond making sure Mal Meninga doesn’t lose a World Cup on home soil.