David Fifita’s Bali escapade likely to help the Broncos in re-signing the powerhouse forward
For reasons still unclear David Fifita’s trouble in Bali has brought about the weird consequence that it now appears easier for the Broncos to re-sign their star young forward than it did before. What happened?
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When Nelson Asofa-Solomona went triple-Chuck Norris on local thugs at the La Favela bar in Bali it sparked, like flies at a barbecue, the coming of summer.
Just a few weeks later Brisbane’s David Fifita, the hottest young property on the market, doubled down on the NRL’s troubles but the difference was in the detail.
Asofa-Solomona got a three-match ban which, in any fair-minded man’s mind, was three matches too many.
His teammate Suli Vunivalu got king-hit and Asofa-Solomona acted as protector. In any era except these sad modern times Asofa-Solomona would have been given a medal for taking out the bullies after such a dog shot.
Now, society deigns he should have sat down over an almond soy, not too hot, for conflict resolution with his attackers. And so in accordance with this modern thinking Asofa-Solomona was punished by an out of touch NRL Integrity Unit.
The greater crime was if Asofa-Solomona had stood by and watched his teammate coward punched and done nothing. What sort of man would that have made him?
As Teddy Roosevelt once said, in words to live by: “Don’t hit it all if it is honourably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.”
Fifita suffered from none of the gallantry Asofa-Solomona covered himself in.
The alleged victim - a nightclub security guard - claimed that after a run-in with Fifita inside a Bali bar, the Broncos star also allegedly swatted him again this time on the street as he accelerated past, as a passenger this time on a motorbike
The police in Bali never charged Fifita.
The apologists were quick to rally arms, their defence stepping an all too predictable path.
Just a young kid doing nothing more than what most young kids do on holidays, said some. .
Some, perhaps with limited capacity for thought, claimed it was an NRL anti-Broncos conspiracy and some even claimed he was being targeted for no other reason than he was a high profile footballer.
All kids can get caught up in these situations, they offered. They just didn’t say where.
But the story took a strange twist the moment Fifita was freed from jail.
He flew into Australia and was surrounded by club officials. It’s not sure, given the charge, whether they were protecting Fifita from the public or the public from Fifita. After all, nobody knows what it takes to spark him in to action. A daiquiri?
It got weirder when chief executive Paul White, a former copper, was at the airport to greet him and instead of giving him a kick up the backside he met him with a hug.
It soon became clear what mattered; Fifita was still in contract negotiations.
On the same day Fifita flew into Australia a Balinese court sentenced Adelaide tradie Nicholas Carr to four months in jail for assault.
Carr got drunk in Bali and went a little Chuck Norris himself. A local was driving his scooter down the road, innocently enough, when Carr ran onto the road and karate kicked him off the bike.
The man received minimal injuries but Carr was arrested and charged with assault.
While Fifita was never charged, Carr’s case highlights just how easily situations can turn sour in a place like Bali.
Carr faced two years in jail but was given leniency because he immediately apologised, expressed remorse, and pleaded guilty.
While White denied the Broncos paid any compensation it soon emerged that the price of freedom was $30,000.
That was how much money leapt out of Fifita’s bank account to help close the “peace agreement” between him and the Balinese security guard.
His Indonesian lawyer, onto his third version of the story, explained the money by saying his fee was the highly irregular 271,870,126 Indonesian rupiah which, under the exchange rate, worked out neatly to $30,000.
How much peace the peace agreement provides the NRL is a question for others.
Carr’s sentence soon dispelled the myth that Fifita was being targeted or treated unfairly. Carr’s plight showed the truth of it, that being a high-profile footballer helped Fifita rather than single him out.
The story then got stranger.
For reasons still unclear Fifita’s trouble in Bali has brought about the weird consequence that it now appears easier for the Broncos to re-sign their star young forward than it did before.
He left Australia as the most sought after talent on the market and returned, somehow, entirely affordable.
What happened?
The Integrity Unit was in Brisbane this week and is expected to close its investigation sometime next week and, other than a decision, very few details will be given.
Under such circumstances, it is not acceptable.
The Broncos have denied committing any cash to help free Fifita, which could constitute a salary cap violation.
Still, Fifita left for Bali as sums the size of $1 million a season were being tossed around in his future and now reports have surfaced that the Broncos are putting together a deal worth $750,000 a season for four years.
And other interested clubs seem to have disappeared. What’s happened?
Until the Integrity Unit begins providing reasons for their decisions, with full reports publicly available, suspicion will always remain that dodgy deals continue and certain clubs are favoured.
The by-product of poor player behaviour in recent years has been an erosion of public faith, often contributed by the NRL’s own handling. Suspicion now underscores every judgment.
Full disclosure won’t eradicate suspicion altogether. You can’t legislate for every player but a fully published report into the investigation and its findings, with reasons given, would at least stem some of the outrage.
The NRL kind of gets it. The recent shift in player punishment was a step towards restoring faith in a disillusioned public. Full disclosure will help even more.
Already there is a divide within the game, among those who haven’t walked away, about what is fair and what is unjust. It is a divide the game struggles to overcome, driven by half-spoken accounts of what might have happened being whispered from the corners of mouths.
The Integrity Unit’s act is final and too many missed marks have eroded the majority’s faith.
Racing has open stewards inquiries. When Tom Brady got busted throwing deflated football the NFL investigated and published a 243-page report to explain why Brady was suspended four games.
With so many incidents, so many conflicting opinions, the only option left for the NRL is transparency.
How does Fifita lose quarter of a million dollars a year in value yet seems happier to sign with Brisbane now than he did before he went to Bali?
It doesn’t make sense. And gee it sets up more trouble.