Daley vs Gould: OK sure - Loz is right, but...

Well – Loz vs Gus, eh? Didn’t that escalate quickly.

Or slowly if you consider Laurie Daley’s been sitting upon Phil Gould’s suggestion from mid-2017 that he wouldn’t allow Penrith players into NSW Blues camp lest they be soiled by poor culture and the “dog’s breakfast” that Blues Land was under Daley. It was a statement which, among other things, our Loz didn’t find complimentary.

And then after the Panthers’ week of PR hell in which several players are implicated in the latest craze to sweep Dickhead Nation since all those tattoos – namely filming yourself shagging and sharing the video among your mates, with and/or without the consent of otherwise consenting adults – our Loz has decided time is right to return serve upon his Lordship Augustus.

“If I’m a parent, which I am, at the moment if I have a son good enough to play and if Penrith were in discussions with my son I wouldn’t want my son to go and play at Penrith,” said Daley on his breakfast sports radio program.

“And I wouldn’t want my daughter to go out with any Penrith player.”

NSW’s Laurie Daley – not a fan of the foot of the mountains. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

So there you go – hasn’t missed ‘em, as they say.

And Panthers boss Brian Fletcher has a case that Daley’s comments tarnish all at Panthers including the hospital visitors and charity champs, and so on.

But like all the nice Catholic priests, enough of their colleagues are in jail to cast doubt on the majority.

Who’s right? Probably depends if you’re a Laurie man or Gus man.

And everyone’s a Laurie man. Compared to Gould he’s more popular than free piss.

And plenty of what Gus Gould says is like the collected wisdom of many ancient and wise people from olden times.

For mine, though, neither man is really spot on.

Daley was no more in charge of Josh Dugan than Gould runs the life of Tyrone May.

There’s a limit to their influence.

What can they do but what they’re doing? How can you get a young bloke into your footy club and rub off 20 years of rough edges?

You can make a culture. You can declare your standards. And you demand that players fit in or f*** off.

But some young dudes won’t care or listen or think or decide on actions that are in their best interests and that of their futures.

They just won’t. And that’s why they’re sharing videos of each other shagging.

I dunno … The sex video sharing thing … I just … maybe I’m old. I am compared to these people. But I just… I don’t get it.

What is doing? Why would you do that? What’s fun or funny about group sex as spectator sport?

Who didn’t teach these dudes that girls have dads, and that some if not all of them – see Mark Geyer’s rage at the rank trolls who dissed his baby girl – are wont to tear the very heads off those who’d treat their baby girls with such disrespect?

Or am I a prude? Should young adults just be allowed to go about their business, tooling about, taking videos of themselves in orgies?

Is it our business? Is it a father’s business?

I wish it wasn’t anyone’s business. It’s all so crass and dumb and worthless.

And now – like all those tattoos – it’s forever. And your kids will see it, and the girl’s mum and dad will see it, and it’s … just … so dumb.

And if it’s filmed without consent it’s a crime.

And if Gus is right and it’s a practice that’s as widespread in society as it apparently is at Penrith Panthers, then Laurie is right too, and you wouldn’t let your daughter within coo-ee of these people.