State of Origin great Ben Ikin has made the provocative claim that rugby league fans can’t expect NRL stars to always toe the line because of the high-risk, brutal nature of the sport they play.
Endorsing the league’s decision to dish out heavy fines rather than suspend Nathan Cleary, Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr for breaking social distancing laws, Ikin believes NRL players are victims of the “unique” environment they’re thrust into.
“Put in a situation going forward, whether either in lockdown or asked to commit to 48 pages of protocols, than someone’s going to get it wrong,” Ikin said on Fox League Live.
“Maybe a few of them will get it wrong and if it sort of snowballs, then where are we left if we’re continually suspending players?
“Yes, we lose the confidence of the public but ultimately I think it was clever from the NRL to address this knowing that the future, both for the game, for the state and for these players in the situation they’re going to be put in is going to be extremely uncertain.”
Ikin’s stance is sure to spark debate, but he’s adamant fans can’t expect Cleary, for example, to be a match-winning risk-taker on the field and perfect law-abiding citizen off it.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
“I was Nathan Cleary once – a young player who was getting a whole lot of adulation because of the job that I did, living a life with a whole stack of profile and because of you’re environment and the life you’re living – which I must say is sort of five or even ten-fold now – you develop this sense of self-entitlement,” said Origin’s youngest-ever player.
“That’s not a slur on the person. That was just the situation I found myself in.
“The way you get treated by people in the public, you know fans of the game, and all of a sudden you find yourself not having that life experience and lacking that emotional security, making decisions that young men (my) age (now) wouldn’t make.
“The truth of it is, these guys need a certain psychology to play one of the most brutal collision sports on the planet.
“They are hyper competitive, often they come from troubled backgrounds (and) they’re put in an environment that is so unique and exaggerated that the only logical conclusion is that from time to time you have to expect exaggerated behaviour.
“It’s what you expect on the field and I absolutely believe that from time to time it’s going to happen off the field.
“And in some respects, even they all know right from wrong, sometimes in the moment they turn to the person they are on the field at the worst possible time off it.”
Ikin claimed earning up to ten times the average wage of everyday Australians also led to NRL stars “losing their grip on reality”.
“Because it’s a pretty unique reality that they’re living in,” he said.
“When you combine that with this weird thing we’re all going through as a community, as a country, as a planet, then it has a compounding effect.”
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: yep, yer right
1.5 metres please
Guest
A stiff diick has no conscience.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
Rob, sadly you cannot put an old head on young shoulders. Not as though I had not done some pretty dumb stuff when I was a young bloke, I most certainly did, however as my old man taught me. Never bullshit and make pathetic excuses because it just makes matters worse in the long run. You tend to get a bit sick & tired of the " Oh But" syndrome from these blokes. Just like Cleary could have said ...as Little Richard said...... "' Keep a knockin' but you cant come in"
Rob
Guest
The army boys are pretty wild on and off base.They just get far tougher punishments and less pay.
Rob
Guest
Cowboys are squeaky clean now. That fella retired a while ago. I think you nailed what Ikin was talking about in the second part. It is unfortunately the way of society. We all have different stories and roads to travel.
Walter Black
Guest
So according to Ikin, because these boy play a tough high risk of injury game, we cannot expect them to always abide by the law. I would hate to see it when the Australian army go on leave then.
Officer59
Roar Rookie
There's no difference between what the 3 of them did....all 3 were stupid, however JAC & Mitchell apologised.....Cleary lied!
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm wondering whether Ikin's considered a career in law? He really needs to run this line past a judge, perhaps if/when Mitchell or JAC have to front court over the firearms charges. I'm pretty sure I know what the judge's reaction would be.
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
In society the more you make excuses for an individual or group the more they believe they really haven't done anything serious & are prone to not take a warning seriously & potentially reoffend.
Paul
Roar Guru
I wonder where this pseudo psycho babble came from? In years gone by, his comments could have been blamed on sticking his head into too many scrums but Ikin can't run that line. There are two other similar sports codes in this country that meet similar criteria re players being hyper competitive, coming from troubled backgrounds and making ridiculous amounts of money. I'm not aware of anyone doing from the AFL or Australian Rugby doing anything like what these other blokes did. Sorry Benny, if you ran this line at my local, you'd have a pub full of blokes laughing at you. Maybe I should invite him once the pubs re-open.
dgcjp
Roar Rookie
I hope the NRL INTEGRITY UNIT exercises discretion and commonsense when dealing with Nathan Cleary. the police did not criticise or punish him. Mitchell & Adoo-Carr were far worse. Cleary did not LIE he simply evaded what turned out to be further truth. He will learn from it.
david crich
Guest
it was good to read ben ikin's explanations from a different point of view to those of phil gould & deputy premier. I hope the integrity unit exercises discretion & commonsense, Mitchell & addo-carr were far worse than Nathan cleary. the police didn't penalise cleary.
bop
Roar Rookie
and I use to think ben ikin talked a lot of sense. what the hell is he on about" poor boys ' no wonder a lot of people out there think league players are a pack of idiots waiting for the next clown to drop the ball.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
One wonders, with Ikin coming out with this malarkey if there is something coming in regard to some Cowboys players who have not done the right thing either. Then again we have these people who continuously talk about "classes of people in society, you know working class etc, so I guess we could have a drongo class in society, just like these NRL players flouting the rules or the hoards of the drongo class that descended upon Bondi beach without due consideration to common sense.
crowdy
Roar Rookie
What a load of crap Ben Ikin.
Dan67B
Roar Rookie
The question needs to be asked of the NRL if this was a lesser known NRL player, say a Max King from Melbourne instead of Ado Carr would the same action have been taken? I would say no. That player would have been made an example of and most likely punted from the NRL. The NRL already made it clear they wanted to have the first game back to be one between the Roosters and Rabbitohs so the Latrell Mitchell factor (rivalry) could take place. If Latrell was suspended they would have lost one of their main draw cards. It is time this so called professional sport became professional.
Arcturus
Roar Rookie
Load of crap. There are plenty of NRL and other sports players who are doing the right thing. There have been plenty of stars who knuckled down and did the right thing when their country asked them to. Even Elvis did his time in the army. These guys are just blockheads.