When oh when
Nathan Cleary, Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell can consider themselves extremely fortunate not to have received much harsher penalties than those handed down by the NRL during the week.
The penalties were far too light. They totally misinterpreted the seriousness of their actions. They also showed little or no understanding of how fans and people working in the game felt about this behaviour.
Stupidity, selfishness and irresponsibility. These actions represented a breach of trust. It was disrespectful to their teammates, their clubs, the fans and rugby league. They put themselves in harm’s way. In doing so, they put everyone else in harm’s way.
These are extraordinary times and everyone is doing it tough. If isolation is not hard enough, many people’s jobs, businesses and livelihoods have been put on hold as a result of the economic downturn. Whole families are suffering.
The people who work in this game, or who rely on this game as a trading partner for their businesses, are sweating on the resumption of play so they can return to their jobs. If the players are stupid enough to expose themselves to the virus then many people will suffer.
Players need to understand that their health, discipline and behaviour will be held to a higher standard. If you want to complain about the reduced pay packet you have been offered for season 2020, think about how much you are going to get if rugby league is not played again this season.
Grow up, pull your bloody heads in and get with the programme.
There is no doubt there’s a distinct difference between the Cleary incident and that of AddoCarr and Mitchell. However, there is no difference in stupidity.
When Cleary first apologised for his behaviour and explained that this was an unplanned event, I could somewhat understand what had occurred. It seemed innocent enough. But there is no doubt he should have been more vigilant and not allowed the girls to enter his home on Anzac Day, even for only a short time. It was a dumb decision.
When the TikTok dance videos become public the next day, it totally destroyed any credibility his original explanation may have had. It doesn’t matter what he says now, he will struggle to find anyone believing his story.
I called Nathan after the TikTok videos emerged. We had a lengthy discussion. My first concern was to check he was OK. He’s been around long enough to understand right from wrong. But
Phil Gould
‘‘Some of the dumb stuff we witness these days just defies belief.’’