North Queensland winger Kyle Feldt defends club culture in wake of Scott Bolton charge
NORTH QUEENSLAND players have denied suggestions of a culture problem at the club, after forward Scott Bolton was charged with indecent assault.
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NORTH QUEENSLAND players have denied suggestions of a culture problem at the club, after forward Scott Bolton was charged with indecent assault.
The fallout from the accusations against Bolton continued on Monday, as Cowboys players fronted the media for the first time since news broke over the alleged incident at a team dinner in Sydney.
The veteran prop was charged by police on Sunday and flew home to Townsville, following the dinner and drinks in Bondi on Saturday night.
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The Cowboys, who are in a team bonding camp in Sydney, were celebrating what was just their third win of the season.
But now their players have had to defend their decision to drink after Friday’s win over the Panthers.
After a poor start to the season for the former premiership favourites, the drama around Bolton is the last thing they needed as they look to notch up back to back for the first time this year.
However, winger Kyle Feldt, who did not comment on the allegations, said they had every right to enjoy a drink after a hard-fought win and the accusation was not indicative of a bigger problem.
“There’s no problem,” he said. “After a hard day at work you’d enjoy a quiet beer, wouldn’t you?
“We all like to have a beer. After a hard-earned game of footy, we all decided to have a beer and that’s that.
“We can’t really talk about (the Bolton allegations) … it’s in the NRL’s hands and the police’s hands now. All we can do is stand by and support Scott.”
Five-eighth Michael Morgan also said the Cowboys are generally a well-behaved playing group and this accusation did not represent the club as a whole.
He denied reports that they were out for a lengthy amount of time and said people will always criticise players for drinking.
“Those views will come,” he said. “The reports of people being out for 10 hours and that kind of thing are ridiculous. That wasn’t the case at all.
“But people are going to have that view no matter what.
“We’re entitled to get together when we have bit of down time and have a beer and socialise.”
Originally published as North Queensland winger Kyle Feldt defends club culture in wake of Scott Bolton charge