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Tim Moltzen has never rigged a rugby league match. Never punched a bloke at 3am in the morning outside a greasy takeaway joint. Never been caught asleep nude in a hotel stairwell in need of a high-pressure hose-down.
So why then did this seemingly nondescript NRL player require a security escort onto Kogarah Oval last Friday night?
Quite simply Moltzen broke a couple of golden rules of Australian sport. While the hardnuts standing at the back of the hill will happily accept blokes into their team who have had as many run ins with the law as they have crappy tattoos, Moltzen has put himself on the fans’ blacklist. His first crime? Not living up to the press he generated.
When the bickering started last year between the Dragons and Tigers about who Moltzen would play for in 2012 there was a fair degree of bemusement from both sets of fans. All this effort over Tim Moltzen?
Surely this was a bit like two middle-aged women arguing over the last copy of You’ve Got Mail at the video store. Who cares, just get something else.
Things reached ridiculous levels this week with news that the NSW Waratahs were also interested in Moltzen.
Let me guess, the Dallas Cowboys and Fremantle Dockers have already filled their quota of versatile-and-decent-speed- if-not-a-bit-on-the-lean-side-footballers?
Sir Alex Ferguson not making any hard to understand late0night booty calls?
Maybe the Waratahs are just after a few more boos from their fans, but it seems like madness.
Sure Tim’s case is not the first time a transfer has caused a bit of a rumble in rugby league, but is Moltzen’s signature up there with such blokes as Dennis Tutty, Gordon Tallis and Mal Reilly?
The bloke has played one game for country Origin, and considering everyone bar Michael Slater has had a crack at playing halfback for New South Wales over the last five years, that’s a trifle underwhelming.
Of course Moltzen didn’t ask for all the attention , but going back on a deal with the then current premiers because you’ll miss your roommate Benji Marshall’s Friday night frittatas is always going to pull a headline. This was Moltzen’s second crime.
Few things rile a rabid fan-base like saying; “Look, quite frankly where I’m at right now is fine and I really must have taken several head knocks to even consider playing for your lowly club and its ugly, inbred fan-base. Cheers anyway.”
They never actually say this in public, but that’s how it comes across to supporters. The Dragons in particular have been burnt in the past, so it’s not like Moltzen was completely unaware what pain was coming his way.
And really, in a world where professional athletes in some sports can be shifted from sunny San Diego to glacial Green Bay overnight, isn’t backing out on a deal at a club down the road for no real reason a wee bit, dare I say, childish?
It is for this reason that so many took considerable delight in Moltzen’s tragic performance last Friday night, for while it may seem petty, seeing his game distilled to its purest form behind a toothless forward pack felt as if the truth has finally been revealed.
Tim Moltzen is a good footballer, and may someday be a great footballer. But he’s a long way from being able to pull off any Lebron-style signings stunts and as a skinny man in a world of monsters, he would be best to plan his plays a bit more carefully in future.
Unless of course he really likes hanging around with those security guards.
Follow Chris on Twitter: Vic_Arious@twitter.com
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