Finally, Todd Greenberg makes the right moves, writes Paul Kent
Todd Greenberg has emerged as the man we never thought he could be. Just a year ago rugby league’s problems were supposedly all the media’s doing, now, the attitude has changed, writes PAUL KENT.
NRL
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Todd Greenberg has emerged as the man we never thought he could be.
Just a year ago rugby league’s problems were supposedly all the media’s doing.
Greenberg warned league fans to ignore a couple of oily-collared wretches called Rothfield and Kent, whom he labelled “crisis merchants”. He urged league fans to talk the game up, as if that might fix it all.
Greenberg was lost. He had a weak board behind him and poor advice around him. His shoot the messenger defence revealed his confusion.
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But the game continued to self-harm, even as an ugly truth emerged over the summer.
In just about all the events of a summer Greenberg has declared a “train wreck”, all but the Bulldogs Mad Monday session broke either as a result of police charges, on public record, or through social media.
Mainstream media had little to do with the breaking of bad news. It was almost entirely self-inflicted.
A lot of conversations began to be had within the NRL. Peter Beattie began to get comfortable in his role as chairman and Peter V’landys, a bulldog in the fight, and the very capable Amanda Laing beefed up the ARL Commission. Mark Coyne joined them soon after, adding further steel.
Beattie told Greenberg to get tough. Do that, he was told, and he would have the new Commission’s support all the way.
And that’s how easily it happened.
Greenberg finally had permission to be the Boss, the man we always wanted him to be, and he delivered this week.
He delivered the tough sentence on Jack de Belin and then followed up on Friday with tough penalties and open ended suspensions that put the entire game on warning.
He gave no clue when, for instance, expelled Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan would ever or even be considered again to coach an NRL team.
For years the game has adjudicated with the benefit of doubt afforded to the players.
This week’s change was a clear statement to the players: we tried it your way and you could not uphold your end, so now we are doing it my way.
Simple rules, tough sentences.
The Commission has given Greenberg a lot of power.
Predictably, some have questioned the wisdom of allowing so much power to rest with one man. They questioned whether there can be consistency.
But this is exactly as it should be.
Greenberg runs the game. He confers with his board and makes his ruling.
He looked comfortable on Friday. He strode into the NRL conference and immediately set about his purpose.
He was unapologetic about the embarrassment the game has caused itself.
“And now,” he said at one point, “from poor administration and fraudulent activity to an act of gross stupidity.”
Those asking for categories as a way of framing consistent penalties are asking the impossible.
How do you categorise a player who films himself treating his body like an amusement park in celebration of his teammate shadow boxing behind him?
Then distributes it.
The consistency is in the standards the game sets.
The consistency is treating every player the same, every club the same, with no suspicion of favouritism.
Not everybody will agree with every decision but who cares.
I believe de Belin should have been stood down, some don’t. I don’t agree that players should be stood down until their legal proceedings have finished, others do.
I could argue the time frames are set by the courts, so effectively two players facing the same charges could be out for vastly different lengths of times because the courts will decide when the matter is heard, so it is inherently unfair.
But you know what the message is? Don’t put yourself in that position.
There will be collateral damage along the way. De Belin might be one of them.
The trick to it all was lost in the penalties delivered this week and the debate they sparked.
Beattie touched on it briefly when he confirmed that he believes the stiffened penalties will lead to “cultural change”.
This is where it is all at.
This will be Greenberg’s hardest job and, if successful, his greatest achievement.
It is not as easy to understand as many believe.
The question asked by many recently is what happens within NRL clubs that see children go from cherubic bundles of joy to amateur porn stars and table dancers?
Where did the innocence go?
What changed for them?
The RLPA has been working hard to change behaviours and at the moment is feeling aggrieved at the NRL that much of their work has been dismissed.
The RLPA is their own worst enemy here, though. It has done a poor job of explaining itself and remains stuck on this presumption of innocence defence.
And lost in that is the simple fact that there is a far greater threshold applied in criminal court than there is for corporate reputation which the NRL has finally acknowledged and which the players must.
Before a judge, the threshold between guilt and innocence is at the highest end. A criminal has to be found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
When it comes to the NRL the threshold is much lower. It is, basically, do I like the game or not? Will I go to this week’s game or not? Will I buy a jersey or not?
And, mostly, will I let my child play rugby league?
The answer was increasingly no.
Parents had a right to be concerned. And the NRL finally got concerned by that.
There once was a time when the game was aspirational.
There was a mystery about the players, and within the mystery there was magic. They were warriors, exploding from the tunnel for 80 minutes each week, leaving us wanting more.
Social media is changing all that. Private acts that should stay private have removed the mystery and, with it, the magic.
The job is not done for Greenberg.
This week was nothing more than a beginning.
Strong leadership can revive the magic.
And The Boss has finally arrived.
HUGE DETERRENT TO SELF REPORT FUTURE CAP BREACHING
Cronulla boss Barry Russell’s integrity remains a beacon for a game currently struggling for honesty and goodwill.
But, seriously, who will ever self report a salary cap breach again?
Russell discovered a $50,000 anomaly in the club books and took it to the NRL.
Nine months later, the coach has been sacked, the club has been fined $750,000 with another $500,000 suspended, they have been penalised $707,000 from their salary cap over the next two seasons and their only premiership title remains tainted.
The NRL has said the club was cap compliant “on the day” and so the premiership remains.
The benefits of recruiting better quality players to the club, even if they might not have been there on grand final day, can never be measured.
It is a big cost and Russell has been highly praised but, given the way the NRL moved in to investigate, confiscating computers, phones and hard drives, you would get long odds about any club self reporting in the future.
The Sharks were privately annoyed at the zest of the NRL investigation but, really, what choice did the League have?
The NRL could not sanction the Sharks for this breach only and risk something else being exposed some time down the line. They would be ridiculed for not conducting a full investigation.
For all intents, though, the clause promising leniency for self reporting is as good as dead.