It’s really hard to come up with a new column on NRL player misbehaviour – like, difficulty level: a billion and seven.
I have written dozens of the blighters now, attacking the issue from almost every angle imaginable, and some that you probably can’t imagine.
I do, however, have a couple of fresh-ish perspectives in light of the latest round of allegations involving the mistreatment of women.
One comes via my fellow retired NRL scribe Todd Balym, who said on Twitter this week that the salary of a convicted criminal in the ranks should be deducted from each club’s grant each year, the NRL saying “we’re not going to pay that guy, you pay him yourself”.
I really like that idea.
The clubs get more than their entire wages bill from the league. So a Matt Lodge would have to be paid out of jersey sales or memberships.
Of course, it would just be a case of rearranging deckchairs to some extent. Presumably players’ pay comes out of the club bank account and money goes into that from any number of sources. But still, it would be a net loss for the club if they signed a bloke with a criminal record. So if you’re one of those halfway-house clubs we’ve had in the past, you’re going to cop it in the hip pocket.
However, the NRL has an integrity unit to deal with these situations already. If it isn’t willing to ban players in certain situations, how can it justify slugging clubs for employing them?
There’s a whiff of procedural unfairness with Todd’s idea but still, it’s worth considering.
I have another thought, which is a little more radical.
When someone points out that American football players make NRL guys look like choirboys, what with all the gun violence and such, the standard – and 100 per cent valid – comeback is that the NFL doesn’t have a significant community element.
There are exceptions – I’ve seen park games of American Football – but generally you go from high school to college to the NFL and if you fall by the wayside during that journey, you don’t continue playing organised football.
So the reason NRL players have to be squeaky clean is that there is a direct line from them down to under sevens and to the mums washing jerseys for free and dads manning canteens for nada, as well.
What if we accepted NRL players will always misbehave and just cut that line?
What if we made rugby league in Australia outside the NRL a completely different sport? What if we made participant rugby league as different from the NRL as formula one is from the morning commute?
No-one says Eddie Irvine set a bad example for milkos, tradies and taxi drivers.
All the rules we think will help rugby league as a participant sport – weight for age, no tackling and even no finals? Let’s bring them in and deliberately drive a wedge between the full-time pro and amateur games. That way, kids, mums and volunteer coaches can distance themselves from their embarrassing uncles in the NRL.
Until a few years ago, Major League Baseball wasn’t even properly enforced when it came to doping. I’m not suggesting we go that far, but why not let the NRL devolve into a zoo, there for the voyeuristic pleasure of the huge reality TV audience while a wholesome weekend pastime develops parallel to it, but with no connection.
WWE to Olympic wrestling, never the twain shall meet. Sure, punish guys who misbehave but don’t let them bring the whole sport down by distancing them from the game. The purchase of touch football and some of the amended rules at junior level surely indicate this split is underway already.
Let’s use it to our advantage from a PR perspective – make it a clean break.
The garish cartoon violence of the NRL can continue to fund the valuable community asset of rugby league, but they will pretend not to know each other.
Just a thought.
AngryEagle47
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately Barry I can’t read your mind so hence my response, yes behaviour is poor this aside i can’t remember a off season quite like this one , Father I’m not “following “ Barry around simply trying to engage in some footy talk , two strong willed opinions will at times clash however that’s were it finishes yeah !
elvis
Roar Rookie
Have you ever heard of the concept of a kangaroo court? Or perhaps a witch trial? The very concept that someone should be punished twice, once outside the law is ludicrous. If I was to dock one of my employees a weeks wages if they say, got a parking ticket, I'd get arrested.
Footy Fan
Guest
Clubs compete very hard on 'moneyball'. To get a premiership they maximise 'bang for buck' from every single decision. From club's angle, having a salary docked from club allowance looks identical to paying player twice - first in direct salary, then in allowance reduction. Puts downward pressure on the dodgy player's salary. Should the NRL flick a switch which halves a player's salary? Maybe, sometimes. But there must be some imaginary line for less severe crimes where the NRL is seen to be acting out of jurisdiction, artificially deciding additional crime penalties when the courts have already decided. Like most things in life simply introducing hard black and white rules at the 2 extremes would probably be wrong - the right choice would be case-by-case tweaking a balanced shade of grey in-between. E.g. dock half a player's salary for first/less severe crimes?
Mike
Guest
Apparently the Dylan Walker case has independent witnesses that saw what happened. Even though his partner is apparently going to retract her statement the Police can still go ahead with evidence of the witnesses. I'd stand him down now. The Stewart and Radradra cases are different. Word against word and no independent witnesses. The same for Hayne and DeBelin. They're entitled to continue until proven guilty. The other two I don't know enough about. And the very simple fact that players are still allegedly committing these offences clearly shows that prior action taken has not been a deterrent. Regardless of the the charges laid the fact DeBelin is out at 1am, drunk, in company with a young women, with a pregnant wife at home is appalling. I'm sick of trying to defend RL. No sport in the country has our track record for violent acts and disgusting juvenile behaviour. And I'm aware the AFL pays hush money when they can. I have no respect for them but I find it hard to believe that even their hush money could silence 5 women from making Police complaints about sexual assault in a few post season weeks. Enough is enough. Any player found guilty is gone for life.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Well said Mark.
Mark Smith
Guest
Forty Twenty, right there is your issue. There is no such thing as a minor assault on a women - full stop. Real men do not assault women in any way.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
I think you should add society is a disgrace -1 in 4 let that sink in.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I meant from a player behaviour point of view. I don’t really have a problem with the coaching and player transfers. It’s part of the game these days and gives us something to talk about in the off season. As long as no one’s breaking the rules, I’m ok with it. You win some and you lose some.
Sludge McFlurrey
Guest
Sexual assault accusations. I’d be interested to see the breakdown of accusations V charged . An accusation means nothing if it’s false , other than the damage done to the accused. There appears to be a whole lot of hysteria surrounding the NRL lately, but you have to wonder how much is actually deserved?
Fix the scrums
Guest
The fact that the NRL allowed Matt Lodge back into the ranks must be a confirmation in many people's eyes that the NRL turns a blind eye towards violence against women. This may not be true but the perception is out there. These many new assault cases don't help. I'm sick of it . Women don't deserve this treatment. The NRL is a disgrace.
AngryEagle47
Roar Rookie
What about the coaching merry go round ? Player transfers ?
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
And your community gets it Phil lol. You use this topic to denigrate a game you hate. You don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself. Shame on you.
Nat
Roar Guru
Very good comment and worth exploring.
Nat
Roar Guru
Exactly, it's sad to say but if one club picked up every player with a criminal conviction it would be a cracker of a team at a budget price.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yeah...I was thinking that. It does incentivise teams to get frisky with the cap. But clubs can do that anyway and the risks and penalties are the same. The contract would still need to be registered. Imagine the blowback though if a team was busted rorting the cap to sign a Lodge or Ferguson etc The other thing is that the rich clubs would be able to afford to pay players outside of the grant (at unders) more than the poorer ones.
Big Daddy
Guest
Don't go the early Crow. BTW how are you holding up to your 2 newest fans. I wouldn't give them any response at all then they would have nothing to whine about.
Rob9
Roar Guru
Nothing sells the code like a successful and well established professional league. This is what captures the hearts and minds of kids and drives them towards picking it as their school and/or club sport. It’s this lesson that rugby could really learn from. Player visits to schools really doesn’t add much significant or sustainable weight to driving up participation numbers. I did all of my primary and high schooling in Brisbane through the 90’s and not once did I see a Bronco at school. There’s no way this one team could effectively cover a city of 2 and a half million people yet Rugby League and the Broncos remain head, shoulders and torsos above any other code or club in the city (as I suspect they will for at least my lifetime). The AFL has made inroads in traditional RL states due to it being viewed as a safer winter football alternative to rugby league. A game of footy where the little kids are on a more even playing field. I don’t think it has terribly much to do with Suns, Lions, Swans or Giants visits to schools. And again, if something like this actually happened, I’d hardly think it would be a case of clubs shutting up shop in terms of community engagement and making some attempt to drive up participation. It just wouldn’t be under the NRL banner.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
It will always occur Clipper. There are some men despite being NRL & AFL players, police officers, accountants, lawyers, taxi drivers etc will always be fated toward violence. Here in Ireland rugby union have had a huge scandal involving group rape allegations & they were from private school backgrounds. This is a sordid a description of events as you’ll read for a this sort of thing. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/dec/04/rugby-rape-trial-ireland-belfast-case And Clipper, it is wrong of one of those ‘ladies’ employed to educate players should bring up that incident because according to a key witness there was one on one consensual sex but apparently even that is crimanalised in certain people’s eyes. https://www.sportingnews.com/au/other-sports/news/bulldogs-rape-claim-sensation-coffs-harbour-nsw-police-force/go9mcjesrch18p8jb8mey4m6 “We had an independent witness who walked into that pool area, an eye witness to one-on-one consensual sex,” Pearce (Former detective Glenn Pearce) said. “Pearce was then asked “did the NSW Police Force seek truth and justice?” He replied: “No definitely not.” And remember the players got defamation payouts from Newsltd. It was more a dark day for NSW police & our media. Nothing happened but one on one consensual sex, the law found that out & this person obviously does not respect the law & due process. She shouldn’t be teaching players nothing by the sounds.
Elijah Tchilembe
Guest
Always dropping the truth, love the article!
saint53
Roar Rookie
American football at high school and College level generates enormous revenues (University of Texas USD 180 million ) and the growth of HS revenues is escalating. Junior and school rugby league remain separate entities and the Junior League has largely by tradition held to the Council boundaries of past decades. If There was to be a consideration of a separate entity the capacity of to grow rugby league extensively in the High school and University system would indeed be a challenge but one that must be an agenda item. Each of us who played all watched or have been a part of the game understand the contribution of volunteers of the game of rugby league beneath the Entertainment Industry that is the NRL. However with the New South Wales Rugby League and the Country Rugby league of New South Wales in discussion about one entity then there is opportune that one of these agenda items should be the future of rugby league in the schools system and that that of the Junior League. The recent loss in England of the Australian Schoolboys (0-2) Tests is indicative of England improving or Australia in decline. Paul Broughton OAM