Ungracious Panthers stain on their parade
IT IS worth reminding some that when Penrith stormed to victory last Sunday, a great wave of apathy swept over most of the land.
It was a fine victory, and a terrific end to a tough season, but yes, it was just a football game.
So how Tyrone May had the arrogance to believe the Panthers premiership somehow vindicated his criminal behaviour from just a few years back, enough to launch a stinging broadside at those who criticised him, remains one of those mysteries that could launch 40 different Netflix docos.
Sadly, it shows the smallness of the game, and of many who play it.
For those who missed it, who some call the lucky ones, May took to social media the night the Panthers won the premiership to post a photo of himself leaving Parramatta Court, with coach Ivan Cleary behind him, while quoting lyrics from a Drake song:
“And the dirt that they threw on my name
“Turned to soil and I grew up out of it
“Time for y’all to figure out what y’all gon’ do about it.”
Apparently, winning a grand final was vindication for May pleading guilty to four counts of filming himself having sex with a woman without her consent.
Magistrate Robyn Denes described his actions as “morally reprehensible” and believed he should have been sent to jail but could not be, given the prosecution argued it was “just below a custodial offence”.
“This troubles me,” she said of the prosecution’s request.
She said the crime was “actually about violence against women”.
May was given a three-year good behaviour bond, the most she could order, which satisfied her from the point of view it meant “the system would be able to watch you for longer than it would if you were jailed and then released”.
And then May wins a grand final and suddenly it was everybody else who was wrong.
Those 13 minutes he played, with five runs and nine tackles, somehow changed everything.
A couple of his teammates, such as Api Koroisau and Viliame Kikau, immediately added messages of support under his post.
For those of us old enough to remember when many of the game’s stars behaved like statesmen, it throws up the obvious question: when did the game turn right, and common decency turn left?
Why the integrity unit has still not put its nose into this is beyond reason. If this does not go to the integrity of the game, what does?
It is irrelevant that May later took the post down.
The bigger question is how, 17 months into his bond, one where he was also ordered to undergo counselling, May believes a grand final win vindicates being a sexual predator?
Has he even done the counselling?
As the week progressed, it seems nobody at Penrith had the good sense to remove the mobile phones from their players.
Having beaten Souths in the grand final, they then used their social media to ridicule them, posting for all to see.
Kikau thought it a classy act to take to his social media account and mock the Rabbitohs.
“Up the Rabbits,” he laughed. “Let’s go Rabbitohs.” He then broke into a sarcastic version of “Glory, Glory to South Sydney”.
Kikau gives the impression that when he finally retires from footy, a long career in lifting something awaits. It is hard to know what else he is qualified for.
They are staining their own parade, these Panthers.
Their response to criticism about their behaviour will be “f--you”, like it was towards Souths’ effort as the vanquished, who were graceful in defeat.
If the Panthers ever need a lesson in class, and a reminder of how if you are good to the game, then the game will give back, they need only look over the halfway line at their opponents from last Sunday and find Benji Marshall.
Marshall was young once, too, and he was brash, but there was a decency and intelligence inside him.
And then he matured and adapted, on and off the field, and now they clamour to keep him involved somewhere in the game, and for as long as he wants. He made the choice his. Not these Panthers, who behave like you expect to wake up one night and find them standing in your hallway.