Crude antics of drunken oafs has taken limelight off finals football

BULLDOGS players who participated in this week’s post-season disgrace face a combined $40,000 in penalties — but that might be just the start.

MAD Monday, expensive Thursday.

Bulldogs players who participated in this week’s post-season disgrace now face a combined $40,000 in penalties from their embarrassed and contrite club.

Adam Elliott and Asipeli Fine have each been hit with $15,000 bills for their naked dancing antics to, of all things, Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. Presumably a portion of those fines is due to the pair’s musical selection.

Matters get crazy as Canterbury-Bankstown players lose clothes and dignity at the Harbour View Hotel in The Rocks. Picture: Toby Zerna

Drug tests and fines: Bulldogs’ hangover kicks in

And Marcelo Montoya will have to cough up $10,000 fine for vomiting in public before passing out on the side of the road. Coughing up appears to be something of a habit for the talented Fijian winger.

Those fines, however, may only represent the first salvo of punishments for the wayward Bulldogs trio — and also their club.

The NRL is poised to hand down a significant penalty to the Bulldogs club for bringing the game into disrepute during a key week in the NRL’s 2018 season.

Pictured is a Bulldogs player on the ground after falling asleep during Mad Monday celebrations at The Rocks. Picture: Christian Gilles

A Bulldogs player cuts a classy figure with a quick spew in the street. Picture: Christian Gilles

This follows revelations that Monday’s event was formally organised by the Bulldogs club, who therefore must accept a great degree of responsibility for subsequent appalling behaviour.

Moreover, it is known that coach Dean Pay was present during the debacle and later copped a dressing-down from Bulldogs management for letting the day get out of hand.

Beyond fines and sanctions, however, is the far more telling cost in the NRL’s public image. Any penalty for bringing the game into disrepute cannot ever erase the initial damage.

A Bulldog strips off at the bar. Picture: Justin Lloyd

All week, the majority of young NRL fans have been fascinated and repulsed by the grotesque, primitive behaviour of players who should otherwise be those youngsters’ sporting heroes.

The anticipated brilliance of this year’s final series is running second in public interest to the crude antics of drunken oafs. This is not at all as it should be, but it is a situation brought on by the Bulldogs themselves.

Fittingly, Bulldogs management has now permanently banned players from future Mad Monday celebrations. If they can’t behave as adults, the club reasons, they should not be permitted to enjoy adult occasions.

But the fact that coach Pay and other senior figures were present on the day should be considered at some length. Where were the grown-ups?

Where was anyone who might have put a stop to Monday’s idiocy?

TOURISTS’ MEDICAL BILL CUT IS SENSIBLE

Tourism is a massive industry in Australia, contributing hundreds of millions to our national economy every year. Being Australia’s greatest city, Sydney is the ace in our tourism pack. But there are downsides, too.

NSW taxpayers pay $30 million every year to cover medical bills for tourists and visitors who are ineligible for Medicare.

Australians don’t want to pick up the bill for sick tourists.

“Every time an uninsured visitor does not pay for their treatment in one of our public hospitals, taxpayers foot the bill,” NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard explained.

The numbers involved are not insignificant. With some 16,000 tourists and visitors ­requiring hospital treatment every year, the total cost is a hefty $100 million. Of that total, just $70 million is recovered from the patient or their insurer.

To cut that shortfall to zero, Hazzard is now urging his federal and state counterparts to back a plan that would mean compulsory health insurance for all visitors to Australian shores.

It’s a sensible move. Our tourism industry exists to make money, not hand it out in the form of free medical care.

MILLMAN’S BIG WIN ‘ALL DOWN TO WEATHER’

According to the New York Times, Australia’s John Millman did not defeat Roger Federer at the US Open. Rather, it was high evening temperatures caused by global warming that brought down the Swiss legend.

John Millman of Australia celebrates his victory over Roger Federer.

The New York Times obviously knows as much about tennis as it does about picking successful US presidential candidates.

All of Australia now looks forward to this morning’s Millman match against another giant of the game, Novak Djokovic.

Whichever way it goes, we can be sure of two things: Millman will again give his all, and the weather will have nothing at all to do with the result.