Fifita escapes further sanction over Bali incident

BD ...after all he is only 19. Yep sure I was pretty wild at 19 myself but I had enough brains not to get into a blue with a bouncer at a nightclub in Bali or actually in Kings Cross which is where I would have been back in the late 1960's early 70's But I tell you what at 19 I would have much preferred to have been a professional Footballer earning over half a million bucks a year than walking around with a national service registration card in my pocket wondering what my future held for me in a ballot

The current regime would have stood Stewart down for a year despite him doing nothing wrong yet Fifita isn't stood down, even for one week, for probably doing something wrong. They also refuse to medically retire Stewart and Matai but can't wait to medically retire Burgess and Inglis . No doubt they can justify it but even the Manly haters think it's dodgy.

Yeah but the Stewart case it was handled by the plonker Gallop. I don't think you can compare anything he did with a balanced and common sense judgement.

I do think that NAS got a raw deal however we do know that he did actually punch a guy (justified or not). In the Fifta case, there is real doubt as to whether he even touched the guy. I think that both these incidents were set ups. They both occurred in the same bar and they both seem to have lots of uncertainty about them. It isn't a far stretch to suggest that local villains might have been on the look out for them and some easy money.

Why not? Besides your stupid guess like Morris and Hall are on a million between them there is no evidence at all that the Roosters are over the cap. Souths on the other hand seem like they have been given pretty nice treatment twice this year

Spurious allegations of salary cap rorting by a Roosters supporter. How hilarious! Your club should be the LAST to open it's mouth at others.

I was thinking more of Mitchell Pearce to be honest, sure he had a prior but he did not end up in a gaol cell in a foreign country charged with assault in a public bar It was only for the fact that someone from the Bronco's with a big fat cheque book went over & took care of things that Fifita is still not in that same cell. The saving grace for Fifita is that the establishment did not have security cameras and if they did the incident footage suddenly dissipated just as did the assault charge. On the other hand Greenberg went out and made a point of crucifying Pearce over a party prank at a private function that somebody unlawfully released on social media for the wold to see and probably did so because they thought it was funny. No police were called no one was hurt and the dog never bit Pearce for doing it. The list of double standards under Greenberg is a mile long and this is just another one . At least Solomoa was defending his mate that was king hit and Greenberg still find him & suspended him from games. Fifita was not sober either at the time of the incident and he just walks away free to play and Greenberg cannot understand why so many people have so much frustration & dissolution with they way the game is being administered.

Sadly there is now more evidence that Souths have taken advantage of the cap either through very sneaky or bad management I can't say. Just cause you keep using CAPS to insist Burgess and Inglis deserved to be exempt still doesn't make it so. Finally haven't got an issue with the Fifita ruling but I hope the NRL and the Broncos asked him to be smarter going into the future like maybe dont go to Bali?

No mate. I use CAPS for emphasis not outrage. I wasted all my outrage watching the Roosters steal two ill-gotten premierships after being at least $2 mill over the salary cap for two years running. Meanwhile the NRL busts clubs who are only $100K - $200K over the cap. I'm not including the Broncos in that though. The days of Andrew Gee handing out cash in brown paper bags in the Broncos Leagues club carpark are far behind us. And BOTH Greg Inglis and Sam Burgess were entitled to be medically retired just like Brett Stewart, Steve Matai and Anthony Watmough. The fact that the NRL got this wrong doesn't excuse them of their obligation to fix the mess they created. Time to get into the Christmas spirits Nat, like your boy David Fafita did in Bali. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Consistency is well and truly alive. The NRL have consistently given Souths a leg up. Sammy get the Inglis treatment and then becomes the most over paid admin b!tch in the country. Maybe Sam should be in recruitment, he done a bang up job with Haas! Consistency is you Souths boys whinging at every decision that may be favourable even though you have no idea about any details BUT USE CAPS TO EXPRESS OUTRAGE IN PLACE OF FACTS!! Anyway, calm down mate. You'll get get to buy every other clubs players. Still top the table for penalties - again. Still blame the refs for every penalty against WITH CAPS!! Still criticize the judiciary when a your boys only get a week for giving a player concussion. Or the same bloke only gets a 'stern word' when they call the judiciary a Kangaroo court. Even better when Toddy writes a personal reference when a Souths boy gets done Drink Driving. You see my man, consistency is far from dead. Souths have consistently got the 'rub off the red and green' for years but hate the idea of anyone getting the Souths treatment.

Fifita should stick to playing the pokies. Paul Kent in today's D/T "Broncos inaction on punishing Fifita shows how rotten the club has become". Don't think these episodes of misbehaviour would have occurred under Wayne Bennett as the players had respect for him. Siebold is too concerned with worrying about his own job. Kent added "the NRL owes Mitchell Pearce 30k & an apology".

I'm sure the guy that was supposed to be hit doesn't get all the $30k. It's just not sportsmen that that get themselves into awkward situations in foreign countries and if you do run foul of the law you'd better have a fat wallet.

Plenty of people get assaulted without ending up in hospital. A slap or a bit of a backhander is an assault. The next player who gets stitched up and stood down for a year would love to have the NRL have such a balanced view on his case. Maybe the next player who is in trouble in Bali will be locked up for a while , the NRL's stand on Fifita case might be viewed as disrespectful , rightly or wrongly.

hi Cadfael, I've spent a lot of time in Asia and this method of sorting out legal issues is quite common. Fafita could have fought the issue to prove his innocence, but this may have entailed him either staying in gaol or staying in Indonesia till the judicial system got round to hearing the case, which in Indonesia, could have been months or years. In Thailand,they call this "tea money" and it makes issues simply go away, which I'm sure is what Fafita, the Broncos and the NRL all wanted.

Read my first sentence. $30k would be peanuts to Fifta and against spending any longer in those conditions. His legal advisor and the Broncs probably told him to pay up and get out of Dodge as fast as possible. If he doesn't pay then 1) how long does he have to sit in jail awaiting trial ? and 2) would he even get a fair trial once he got there ? In those circumstances, I think I would have paid up too regardless of innocence or guilt.

To be fair Cadfael would YOU have rolled the dice and risked a prejudiced decision and an extended stay in a Bali Prison? Fafita was never going to get a fair hearing in any case. I don't think paying his way out of trouble in this instance is necessarily an admission of guilt but rather oof the fear that he would be made an example of irrespective of the facts of the case.

You've been awfully quiet on this Nat. What's your take on this? And, what would you have said if this had happened to Sam Burgess instead? All the ROARers who are giving this decision a pass are kidding themselves if they believe they would have had the same reaction if it had been their favourite whipping boy, Sam Burgess. # What A Joke! # Consistency Is Dead In The NRL

What would have been the reaction to this on the ROAR if this had been Sam Burgess? Where is the consistency? ‘How do you come up with this s***?’ Fans blast NRL over Fifita’s non-sanction "Outraged rugby league fans have claimed the NRL lacks consistency over David Fifita being cleared after a fracas in Bali. Some went even further, saying the Brisbane Broncos covered up the incident after the young forward landed himself in jail." https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/broncos/nrl-2020-brisbane-broncos-david-fifita-todd-greenberg-integrity-unit-sanction-bali-fight-prison/news-story/374bdd4168580b51541b4b047cac768c

If there was nothing in it, why did he pay the money. That is what looks bad.

What they mean is that Fifta was set up and they used the Bali legal system to extort money from him but to be diplomatic, they cannot come out and say that. He couldn't have been too drunk to respond as he is supposed to have driven away on a moped. NRL Integrity is no more a lottery than the Australian judicial system is. They weigh up the facts before them and make a judgement. Just because you do not see all the facts and information that they have in coming to that judgement does not make the judiciary a lottery nor their judgement wrong.