Dylan Walker stood down after assault charges

Agree, but a Prima Facie case clearly exists here. No longer need a victim statement in domestics to obtain a conviction, it’s harder to do but I’ve seen it done a lot - Her 000 recording, her impulse comments to the attending police, outcry witnesses, injuries, police statements, police accountable notebook entry

Unfortunately because woman are proven to sometimes tell fibbies in these matters we have to consider the possibility that the bloke is innocent whether we like to or believe it. Most cases are indeed true but who are we to judge which ones they are before the verdict? The Dogs of Coffs Harbor fame , Brett Stewart and from a different angle even Lindy Chamberlain prove that it is folly to prejudge. You've already allowed your view of the Walker case to be tainted by cops, paramedics, AVO's and charges being involved. None of that proves anything. Despite what any of us think it is possible that Walker tried to grab her as she was leaving and she fell over. Still enraged by the whole thing she wants to teach him a lesson and colours the story of what really happened. Even if you believe this is highly unlikely, which it probably is, you need to hold your horses on making a judgement. Brett Stewarts case proves that we have no choice except to give the benefit of the doubt.

Agree totally, The Barry. I have it on good authority that the only reason she then wished for the whole thing to just go away was purely financial, ie. the lifestyle to which she had become accustomed was under threat. That’s pretty tragic in itself, but not uncommon. I feel sorry for her. The courts, thankfully, are no longer so ‘understanding’ in such cases. The allegations surrounding events that took place are not fabrications. Walker’s future playing career is the least of his problems.

If only the world was as simple as the ignorant believe it to be !

I agree to some extent about that but as said above, cops called, paramedics called, AVO issued, charges laid point to something more than a woman falling over. I get that sometimes (very occasionally) women make these allegations up...but I’d wager many, many, many more don’t than do and that there are more unreported domestic violence cases than completely fabricated cases. But so often we jump to the “she could be making it up” defence. Sometimes it seems like we haven’t come far from the 70s attitude of a woman wearing sunglasses to work and telling everyone she ran into a door.

Cases like this can be coloured by all sorts of factors. It's always going to be a bad look when a footballer , especially one like Walker, has a dispute with any woman and she ends up being injured. Throw in the report that the woman is holding a child and the pitch forks come out. Everything points towards the man being guilty. Trouble is that even if she did fall over and get hurt , it doesn't automatically mean that it was deliberate. It could have been but there is a chance that it was an accident and that's what I'm hoping for , for everyone's sake. Innocent until proven guilty is scoffed at quite often but it is a proven concept. Just ask Brett Stewart.

One of the downsides of this scenario is if she decides to stay with him for the sake of the child. No one wants to break up families particularly where young children are involved. The other side is if the family does split up and the decision goes either way its a no win. But in saying that the NRL have some serious decisions to make.

Completely agree with just about all of that. You don't want to have a go at the victim or judge her, but man, her apparent attitude does not help and you just hope that privately she has strong people around her who can guide her to make smarter decisions for her and her child. When we look at the degree of fines for the Bulldogs end of year antics vs how little the NRL seem to care about this issue, it is just ridiculous. - They may proove us wrong and stand up for something, but track record says they won't. If I were the White Ribbon organisation, I would publically take back the NRL's White Ribbon accreditation. They won't because that accreditation probably puts $30k in someones back pocket, but to publically tell the NRL, we don't want to be associated with you would gift them way more than $30k worth of attention to the issue. The Walker supporters will say, nothing proven so nothing should be done. I will say, paramedics called (they don't get called to pull splinters out), police lay a charge and file for an AVO - says there was enough there for the NRL to punish him and for the game to stand for something. Add to that to to see the victim crumble (and we can speculate further Mr Gorman's confessed repeated contact with the victim and the impact it had but we won't), to me only further highlights the NRL need to act in support of victims, otherwise they genuinely do not care about women.

I respect your “the NRL should only take action if the court finds him guilty stance” but I just don’t agree. There’s more to domestic violence than just whether the cops have enough evidence. Unfortunately often it’s one persons word against another’s and that means that invariably some people that have committed domestic violence are found innocent. Then we get situations like what’s appearing to emerge today that Walker’s partner is retracting her statement and “standing by her man”. The NRL might be happy to stick their heads in the sand and use the court results to sweep this under the carpet but I think the game and all of us as a society should be stepping up on this issue. It’s too easy for men to abuse women and then use the “no one saw nothin” defence. There was enough going on that police were called, his partner made a statement and Walker was charged. I’m not comfortable with the stance of the game by saying it’s only if he’s charged that we’ll admit anything happened or we’ll take action. It’s fine with me if you are. But that’s one of the reasons he domestic violence is swept under the carpet and women are afraid to come forward. If that is the stance of the game - then fine...but get rid of the women in league round. Get rid of the association with white ribbon. Scrap the integrity unit. Be up front. Say “we’ll only take action if someone is found guilty of domestic violence” And I completely admit there may be information that none of us have that could completely and utterly clear Walker. I’ll put my hand up to admit I was wrong when that emerges. And I’m not saying ban Walker right this second...all of the above is based on an investigation and reasonable evidence. But the NRL has an integrity unit that can investigate and reach a conclusion independent of the court findings. Just relying on court findings that are heavily biased one way isn’t good enough. They don’t wait for court findings when someone pulls his pants down at a function or someone writes a hidden message on their strapping or someone wees in his own face. They act. But when it comes to domestic violence against a woman which is completely and utterly abhorrent and unacceptable and a thousand times worse than anything above, the attitude is “we’ll only act if the court finds him guilty”

Well no . I’m not aware of the specifics , such as cuts n bruises etc. Did you read about it in one of the much revered and trusted news sources ?

Same as you

How are you all so aware of these specific details ?

The ugly truth is the caveman do give the game a bad name. Trouble is how to get rid of the cavemen. There will always be some of then in the game as history tells us.

Seems he has some cannibalism tendencies that get him into trouble ? Its not the first time he has been caught biting off more than he should chew.

It’s disturbing how quickly blokes (I assume) fall back on the “what if she she’s lying, what if she fell over, what if she started it, what if she had a weapon, what if she was asking for it” lines. We need to be better than this. Walker’s guilt or otherwise in court isn’t the only concern in this. What if your daughter or sister or whatever told you her boyfriend had been hitting her? Would your response be “well, he’s entitled to his day in court, you could be lying” What if the grub got off because it was her word versus his? “We can’t do anything about it because we have to abide by the courts devision” Cops get called. She claims assault. She’s got cuts and bruises. Cops take him away. Cops charge him. “She could be making it all up...” Plus we’ve had three of these in a couple of weeks. No wonder the rest of rugby league get tagged as cavemen.

I find it disturbing how quickly people (blokes I assume) are to say things like “she’s faking, she could have fallen over, she might have pushed him first, what if she had a weapon, etc” Could all be rephrased as “what if she was asking for it”

This is a very different set of circumstances to the two examples you’ve listed . If Walker admits to something, then I agree the NRL are within their rights to take action. But if he denies any wrong doing and they punish him , contrary to findings in a court , I’d think he’s quite within his rights to take legal action.

No it is not a problem. I don't understand why this is so hard to understand. Jack Whighton was suspended for 10 games in July, his court hearing concluded in November. Comprehend? As it pertains to Walker (or a hypothetical similar case); Does the NRL think it is acceptable to push a woman over? We assume the answer is no. Is pushing a woman over a criminal offence? In many cases probably not. So if, repeat IF, the NRL concludes that a player pushes a woman over, even if a non-criminal offence, they can punish him just like they punish players for onfield discretions or when they fine players for saying things they shouldn't in the public domain. What crime did Fafita commit in supporting Kieran Loveridge? They fined and banned him. Players get fined for acts on a Mad Monday that are stupid, but not illegal. Paul Gallen got fined for some tweets a few years back. Coaches get fined all the time for quesitoning the integrity of officials. No court hearings, but punishment and sanction from the NRL. They are a private business. They set their own standards. The NRL is a White Ribbon acredited organisation. White Ribbon promote a culture of zero tolerance of violence against women. Zero, not criminal. So stand for something NRL. It really is that simple.... Even for special cases like me.

I don't know Dylan Walker to like or dislike him. What I dislike is abuse of women by hot headed men. No it isn't about the law. It is about professional standards a business sets. This myth that the NRL has to wait for the court proceedings to take place is just that, a myth. In some cases it might be necessary, for sure, and where there is little evidence and the players is saying not guilty, ok. But in the Whighton case for example, there was video, black and white (literally) and he was suspended before his court case was decided. You don't need to wait for the law to intervene.Watch the video, interview the people involved and issue a suspension. You are a private employer, with every day that passes, your brand is damaged. So in this case you meet the people involved, if there is little doubt that something - criminal or not - has happened and it is unacceptable, punish him and show your business and brand actually stands for something and isn't just feeding rhetoric to pretend they care.

I really don’t know why I’m bothering to say this , but you appear to be a bit of a special case BA. Let say the NRL took your lead and punished Walker , based on their own Kangaroo Court findings. Then Walker goes to trial and is found to be not guilty, surely someone with even your limited understanding can see how that becomes a problem. Just in case it’s beyond your comprehension. Then Walker sues the NRL and this becomes an even bigger embarrassment. Actually having said that, that’s probably exactly what the clowns will do.