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I am not at all surprised about reports that Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson allegedly went on a bender in the lead up to Origin 3, nor by the tales of Andrew Fifita allegedly chucking a hissy fit to keep his starting spot.
What amazes me is that so many people are surprised by these stories.
The game’s administrators, selectors, clubs and the fans have allowed an environment to develop where cancerous poor player behaviour and inflated self-opinions have been able to thrive.
Us fans, hungry for on-field success, try and justify the often low-rent, disrespectful and disgraceful actions of our star players in the hope that they’ll win us games.
To paraphrase Mayor Quimby, we hope all their disgraces may be in private.
The players, who often have no more emotional intelligence than a newly testosterone-infused adolescent, are smart enough to realise the level of immunity this gives them. As long as they play well they can get away with most things. Their disgraces will be kept quiet where possible, their poor standards excused.
And I say ‘us fans’ because I’ve been every bit as guilty of this as anyone else.
As a Raiders supporter, I’m ashamed to reveal the number of times I wanted Todd Carney’s piss poor behaviour forgiven just so he could keep playing in lime green. He was done for drink-driving, allegedly ran from police after doing burnouts while unlicensed and finally – while at the Raiders, at least – allegedly urinated on a man’s leg at a Canberra nightclub.
Still, I hoped he would be allowed to play.
And I wasn’t alone. Many reasonable, upstanding and decent Raiders fans felt the same as I did. But every time we forgave him and let him play, he learnt nothing. In effect, we – his fans, teammates and coaches – let this dumb kid from Goulburn down by not making him accountable for his actions, by not teaching him better, by not demanding better.
Through our negligence we allowed his talent and career to careen into ignominious oblivion. Even following the disgusting bubbler incident at his last NRL club, his captain was still arguing that Carney wasn’t hurting anyone.
To clearly demonstrate that I had learnt nothing from the Carney experience, I wrote a defiant defence of Blake Ferguson after he was stood down by the NRL following the incident in Cronulla before State of Origin camp in 2013.
I did this even after I knew about Ferguson apparently spitting on people at a music festival.
And we wonder why many players behave poorly. We defend them when they act appallingly.
(AAP Image/Action Photographics, Colin Whelan)
What did Carney really learn after his year in the wilderness? That he could play for the Roosters, win a Dally M and get to the grand final. That even when his Bondi sojourn went pear-shaped, that the Sharks would take him.
If the NRL would allow it, you can bet Carney would still have suitors now.
That the NRL allowed Josh Dugan to be registered with the Dragons and to play for New South Wales in 2013 meant that he also learnt nothing apart from possibly who needs the Raiders? I’m a commodity in demand; I can publicly disrespect my club, coach and fans; and I can walk out on my contract and it doesn’t really have any consequence.
To my mind, it seems Dugan was not made to be accountable for his actions, certainly not by the New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin selectors.
And every single NRL player saw that. The standard was set.
The NRL, NSWRL selectors, the clubs that actively pick up known miscreant players, the clubs that shield, protect and justify miscreant players and of course us fans who continue to tolerate lower standards of behaviour than we should in the hope of victory for our sides have all set this standard.
We are to blame.
For us to act all aghast and outraged in regards to the reports that Ferguson and Dugan allegedly got on the cans during the Origin 3 camp or that Fifita allegedly chucked a hissy fit when told that he was going to play off the bench is hypocritical and pathetic.
The players themselves will probably be bewildered by the fuss. After all, when Dugan went drinking on his roof, he played Origin that very year. When Fifita lamented signing with the Bulldogs, the Sharks took him right back. It is us who have changed our expectations of them, not them who have changed their behaviour.
I’d suggest that the character and behaviour of those players have been well on truly on display for years now and frequently tolerated by many.
If the allegations prove true, we’ve got no right to be surprised about them and probably no right either to castigate them.
(AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)
The worst thing about all this hullabaloo is that people are only now getting their knickers in a twist about it because New South Wales lost and lost ignominiously. Just as the great Stevie Nicks said “Players only love you when they’re playing”. Fans only love you when you’re winning, especially if you’re of questionable character.
The Sky Blues and their fans were pantsed and humiliated once more by the Queenslanders and the fans are filled with impotent rage. They are searching for scapegoats. Ferguson, Dugan and Fifita make very easy targets. However, those guys have a perfect right to be indignant and surprised by the reaction they’ve received.
Here’s the ugly truth, New South Wales people: Queensland won, has won for ages and will probably continue to win because in general, and with few exceptions, their team is filled with and led by a better calibre of human.
These aren’t just my assertions. On Monday night on Fox Sports NRL 360 ex-NSW player Matthew Johns made some scathing statements.
“You compare that (allegations of Ferguson and Dugan being at the pub and Fifita’s reported dissent) to Billy Slater in Game 1 and how disappointed Billy would’ve been when the boys left him out, but he handled it with class. Whereas on our (NSW) side of the fence it’s classless.”
When asked by Ben Ikin about how he gets the right balance between talent and character when selecting a team, Queensland coach Kevin Walters got right to the core of the matter.
“Character overweighs talent definitely – at Origin level … The Storm are a classic example of getting the best out of their players. They’re not all superstars. They’ve got some really good players there. The rest of them are just hard working, know their job… and they’re good people.”
While the Sydney press ridiculed the selection of Tim Glasby, Walters knew better.
“One of the reasons we picked Tim Glasby was because he was in a really good system. His character was second to none… Just his general off the field character. Clean as a whistle, really good bloke, works hard, does everything that he can to get the best out of himself every week…”
And Kevvie put his money where his mouth is. With an ageing team needing renewal, in 2016 Walters banned a host of up-and-coming players from playing State of Origin that year for breaking curfew. Do you think Anthony Milford, Cam Muster, Dylan Napa or Valentine Holmes are likely to ever question his rules as a result? I reckon not.
(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Let me ask you a question: how many of the New South Wales team do you think fit Walters’ description of Glasby? Boyd Cordner, Josh Jackson, Jake Trbojevic, David Klemmer?
Matthew Johns’ response to that question:
“Well, there are a few players there I wouldn’t let babysit my kids, put it that way…
“We’re (NSW) obsessed with body types and you blokes (Queensland) between the ears and under the shirt (referring to their heart for the job).”
As I asserted before Origin kicked off this year, State of Origin belongs to Queensland. This selection of character over talent is one of the key reasons, at least recently.
Ben Ikin and Paul Kent hypothesised that you can’t put in what God left out, but that’s crap.
If you want New South Wales to ever win an Origin series again then us, the fans, must demand and expect better behaviour and standards from our players. From the juniors, the under-20s, the Reggies and in the first grade – that will translate into better humans and better results.
We can’t excuse people behaving badly because they are good at football, because at the end of the day for most, when the blowtorch goes on the belly, they often don’t have the character to prevail.
So it is up to us to encourage good character and behaviour because, for a large number of football players, they simply don’t know any better.
Editor’s Note: It has now been reported that Dugan and Ferguson’s behaviour on their day off was acceptable and that they were ‘no drama at any point’, according to the manager of the pub they were at.