Crawley Files: Time to stamp out NRL’s dobbers and hypocrites
The putrid witch hunts and unfounded rumours permeating through our society are nothing more than a call for public stonings and ruined reputations – and it’s at its absolute worst in the NRL right now, writes PAUL CRAWLEY.
NRL
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I’m old enough to remember when it was accepted to give someone a smack in the mouth for being a dobber.
Not only accepted, but expected.
Now we live in a society where dobbers are not only accepted but celebrated.
It really is shameful when you actually stop and think about the hypocrisy that rules the social double standards today.
And it’s not strictly social media causing all the problems, but society in general.
How so-called good blokes can give up others so easily, as long as they don’t get given up themselves.
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And in turn how these anonymous cowards hiding behind keyboards can also invent and circulate disgusting and often unfounded allegations about anyone — when there’s no way of holding them to account even if it’s untrue.
The fact is because of this intense scrutiny the majority of NRL players today are far better behaved than at any time in the game’s history.
But they rarely receive credit for it.
In comparison, some of the stories that have become folklore about the goings on in the 60s, 70s and 80s would almost land individuals in jail if they were to happen today.
Yet back then there were no mobile phones and pretty much all of it was swept under the carpet.
So it became the stuff of legend as you sat around with mates sharing a beer and a laugh.
But today we jump on these young players for what are often the most minor indiscretions, like literally going for a haircut, or a bite to eat.
And this growing army of do-gooders out there hiding and waiting for someone to slip up just makes me cringe.
Yet this is how innocent it can be.
A couple of weeks back young Parramatta five-eighth Dylan Brown and Maika Sivo took themselves off for a haircut at a barber shop at Rouse Hill — and they put a picture of Dylan up on the website to promote the business.
But instead of it being a good deed, someone who obviously doesn’t have a life demanded Dylan be investigated.
“I am concerned for other young players,” they wrote.
“I believe they have a game tonight and it puts a lot of the NRL at risk — they should get COVID tested immediately as the players are meant to be in full lockdown can you please confirm ASAP?”
It turned out Brown wasn’t breaking any rules, and the person who sent in the tip was a Wests Tigers supporter.
Now if a player was seriously doing the wrong thing it could be justified.
But not for getting a haircut.
And remember, it wasn’t a simple ‘spotted’ either, they wanted Brown “investigated”.
Like the coach who also got caught out walking his dog as his wife got a coffee, or another who was apparently sprung at a junior league game.
I’m telling you now, I have seen a series of incidents that were COVID bubble breaches with my own eyes.
But there is no way I am going to dob because it is not how I was brought up, and I truly don’t believe any were endangering anyone.
But when someone dobbed in Wayne Bennett for breaking the rules and the Souths coach copped a $20,000 and a two-week suspension for going to lunch, did they think he was endangering the game — or was it more about settling a personal vendetta for someone else because he has a lot of enemies?
I wonder.
Yet the $20,000 fine and two-game suspension still wasn’t a tough enough punishment for some.
They wanted a public stoning.
Seriously, we have to get some perspective on this — because the double standards by which we live our own lives compared to what we expect from those inside the NRL bubble have become pathetic.
I understand completely that Peter V’landys and the NRL have had to put strict protocols in place to satisfy governments.
And as a result of this the easy justification is to say the survival of the game depends on the standards set by those in the bubble.
But what accountability do the dobbers and do-gooders put on their own actions in their lives, because the health and safety of the entire society depends on how seriously we all treat this COVID crisis.
The protocols our NRL players have been living under since as far back as March go way beyond the simple guidelines we, in NSW and Queensland, are asked to live by.
Yet how many of us could put hand on heart and say they haven’t broken the rules on at least a few occasions?
But while this hypocrisy is allowed to spiral out of control, at some point this is going to have serious repercussions.
And it’s not just the COVID cops causing the trouble, but some who are just awful humans.
The scandalous rumours that circulated about Anthony Seibold and his private life this week have just pushed this beyond the limit.
There was a time in Australia that if someone was going through a tough situation at home you would back off and give them space.
Yet when Seibold was forced to leave the Brisbane bubble last weekend to attend to a private family situation, some low-life started this series of vicious rumours.
Even if you’re not on social media you couldn’t escape it because it was forwarded to mobile phones across the country.
But even though Seibold has now employed a lawyer to try and investigate how it started, we all know there is a fat chance the police will track down the culprit/s.
Yet as everyone dined out on these unfounded rumours, how many actually stopped and gave any consideration to what it would be like if it was their family facing this same horrible situation before they forwarded it to the next person?
Perhaps as a society that’s what we need to do.
Maybe drawing your own line in the sand is the only way we can all put a stop to these putrid social standards.
LIFESAVER RESUSCITATES THE TITANS
Mal Meninga has copped plenty throughout his time as Gold Coast’s head of performance and culture. But the big fella deserves a huge rap for his vision to headhunt Justin Holbrook to take over from Garth Brennan.
At the start of the season, who could have possibly imagined the Titans’ rookie coach would be in charge of the Queensland team sitting highest on the NRL ladder?
And just as surprisingly, who could have imagined the Titans would be giving big brother Brisbane a massive wake-up call on so many fronts?
Holbrook has brought about a tremendous change at a club I thought was the NRL’s greatest waste of space. And the Titans are not only playing good footy. The signings of David Fifita, young Melbourne giant Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Herman Ese’ese are tremendous for their future.
While they’ve copped some criticism for paying $1.25 million a season to secure Fifita, he’s the sort of once-in-a-generation player who justifies that gamble. Again, before Holbrook arrived, it was unimaginable a player in such demand would walk out on the Broncos, especially to play for the Titans.
Meanwhile, Brisbane is moving to sack Tevita Pangai Jr for his COVID breach, and it’s being pushed as a show of strong leadership. Let’s be fair dinkum, it’s nothing more than a convenient excuse to get rid of a player who doesn’t want to be at the club. Yet it was only a year ago that Pangai Jr was one of the game’s most sought-after forwards — and the Broncos were prepared to pay $690,000 a season to keep him.
So where and, importantly, why did it all go so horribly wrong? Perhaps that’s the real issue Brisbane’s management needs to get to the bottom of before it hangs Pangai Jr out to dry. Especially now we have discovered that 10 more Broncos have been caught up in a possible COVID breach.
SOBERING TALE OF TWO COACHES
It was interesting to hear former Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter during the week discussing the need for the club to get behind Michael Maguire.
One of the things I found most fascinating was Potter’s insight about individuals overstepping their mark during his tenure — and the trouble it caused, especially with decisions over recruitment and retention.
It seems a lifetime ago Brad Arthur and Paul McGregor took over at Parramatta and St George Illawarra in 2014.
With McGregor now battling to last the season, Arthur has been handed an extension until the end of 2022.
Looking back at their respective journeys, perhaps the biggest difference when judging success and failure has come down to recruitment and retention. And it’s not simply about identifying talent, but the right personalities to work with the coach.
This is where Arthur has got it so right. There is no greater example of his judgment than bringing Clint Gutherson over from Manly at such a young age.
Not only that, Arthur then identified Gutherson as the player he wanted to lead the Eels when they had that horrible wooden spoon season in 2018.
Now the camaraderie at the Eels all seems connected to the great bond that exists between the coach and the captain.
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It’s not necessarily McGregor’s fault it hasn’t worked so well at the Dragons.
It’s clear he hasn’t been able to build a similar bond with star signings Ben Hunt and Corey Norman. But maybe this is where the Dragons’ next coach will need to stamp his authority — because what’s also clear is it just isn’t working with a head of recruitment having ultimate say over the head coach.
There’s no doubt McGregor and Ian Millward would have worked closely.
But surely it’s the coach who should have the first and last say. That’s how it works at all the successful clubs.
Originally published as Crawley Files: Time to stamp out NRL’s dobbers and hypocrites