It’s time for NRL clubs to stop feeding fans vague statements, writes Paul Kent
THE sign outside Brookvale Hotel is a simple one: Bring Back Tooves. Fans think more simply about their footy because they are unencumbered by the bullshit that clubs immerse themselves in, writes Paul Kent.
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THE sign outside Brookvale Hotel is a simple one: Bring Back Tooves.
The obligatory hashtag is underneath, #bringbacktooves, a subtle indication that this is a fan-led campaign and not an official one.
Of course, we can see that already.
If this was official it would be buried under three denials and two internal reviews, a highly paid consultant, ongoing speculation and another denial by way of statement.
Followed by a no comment.
Fans think more simply about their rugby league because they are unencumbered by the bullshit that clubs immerse themselves in nowadays.
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Somehow clubs have found themselves in a place that is the sporting equivalent of political correctness.
Their language is vague and bureaucratic. Designed to tell us nothing while they tell us something.
They speak in riddles under this misguided belief they have their sponsors and members to consider first and this is what they want to hear.
The absurdity is sponsors and fans are abandoning them anyway.
Manly, in a sign of the times, released a statement this week to say they were actually not going to make a statement on Trent Barrett’s future.
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At the same time sponsors were already pulling back their sponsored cars or questioning their financial commitment to the club in the wake of their latest ham-fisted management.
And the fans, who see through it all, remain in uproar.
Bring back Tooves.
The game is filled with such double Dutch.
Somewhere we have forgotten that one of this game’s great strengths was always its simplicity.
It is why the Manly heart beats pure for Geoff Toovey.
His intentions were always completely transparent.
It goes without saying, though, that it won’t help Toovey get his old job back at Brookvale, despite the public support.
We are lost.
We have arrived at a point where the speculation is as damaging as the truth itself. In some cases more so, because it has no end.
After being beaten by the Broncos on Thursday South Sydney coach Anthony Seibold made the short skip into the surreal when he opened his post-match press conference with a statement.
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“I’m not going to answer any questions about the Broncos, I’m not going to answer to any speculation about my coaching career,” he said.
“I’m contracted to the Rabbitohs for the next 15 months.”
There was a time when such a statement would be unnecessary.
A contract was a contract and coaches, like players, stuck by their contracts.
Unfortunately, NRL clubs long ago surrendered that goodwill.
Seibold is in his job only because last year his club broke its contract with then coach Michael Maguire and sacked him with two seasons still to run.
Penrith fans were told for months that Anthony Griffin’s job was safe.
It wasn’t.
Griffin got sacked a fortnight ago and Ivan Cleary, with two years to run at Wests Tigers, was privately endorsed by the Panthers as his successor.
Cleary went into retreat and refused to speak publicly as the news emerged. He fired barbs at the media for “misinformation” when, given the opportunity to address those ill-informed claims, he hid behind a statement and refused to address any questions, as he did again a day later at the post-match press conference.
Seibold could end the speculation by committing to a contract extension on Saturday. It is his choice to delay negotiations until after the season which prompts the logical question from fans. Why?
What else should they think, given the environment?
Souths have certainly indicated their willingness to do that.
That Seibold delayed extension talks at the same time the club regarded as most interested in him, the Broncos, also said it will put off its search for a new coach until after the season, naturally makes Rabbitohs fans wonder.
Seibold can’t expect fans not to be concerned or even not to talk about it.
Fans wonder and worry.
They are emotionally invested in their team.
Without it there is no logic that can explain why they pay to watch them play or why they buy a grossly overpriced jersey or why they shell out for season tickets or, if they are not at the game, why they want to throw a stubby at their television when the referee makes a dud call against their team.
All fans want is to watch their team win and be told everything is okay.
By refusing to plainly speak to the fans’ concerns clubs feed the speculation.
And so it creates a natural narrative in the media.
The danger is by refusing to deal with it in absolutes it becomes self-fulfilling.
The same night Seibold fed the speculation rather than douse his rival, Wayne Bennett, sat down like a man defeated. It was hard to pick him as the winning coach.
Bennett has had an unhappy year and, frustrated, he turned on the media.
“I can’t win with you guys,” he said.
“If I make no comment, you make it a headline and if I make a comment you still make it a headline, but that’s the beauty of your job, you just sit on the fence.
“You become professional fence-sitters you blokes.
“Whichever way I go, you go the opposite point of view.
“You’re better informed than I am, so you better talk to Paul White.”
Bennett is in a tough position.
The inability of him and his club to resolve their problems quickly and decisively has created a half-land where nothing is trusted anymore and so everything continues to be questioned.
The media are not innocent in this. A new world record for dumbest question ever asked was created halfway through Bennett’s press conference.
“You’re pretty keen to keep coaching beyond next year, though, aren’t you Wayne?”
It could have ended Bennett right there.
“Am I a broken record?” Bennett finally said.
The breakdown of good administration is matched by the breakdown of good journalism.
Too many single sourced, second-hand information stories are delivered as stone cold fact.
Aside from the obvious falsity, it has created an environment where incorrect information designed to drive an agenda is too easily circulated.
A day after Maguire was supposed to have been offered a three-year $2.4 million deal the former Souths coach went on radio to deny it.
“We’ve had no contact so I’m not quite sure where that one has come from,” Maguire told Macquarie Sports Radio hosts Mark Levy and Mark Riddell.
The same day, Levy put it around that Barrett had quit Manly to take over from Ricky Stuart in the head coaching role at Canberra.
And when that story, as wrong as wrong can be, got challenged Levy tweeted “multiple sources saying it’s happening” and that it came from “very reliable sources”.
Well, if he sticks by such bad information then he can never be trusted again.
The way out of this is easy to see but brave to implement.
Clubs need total transparency to restore their reputation for telling the truth.
Forget the spin.
Talk to the fans, and talk to them like they are people, not a commodity.
GET TO SHARK PARK AND WATCH GREATNESS ONE LAST TIME
JOHNATHAN Thurston runs out for the final time in Sydney on Saturday night.
It is the best reason you can find for why Shark Park should be a sellout.
Every junior footballer with ambition should get along and watch Thurston. Every junior coach who wants to show his team what greatness looks like should take his young players along.
The reason is clear.
There is a difference between watching a player on television and watching him live and Thurston is the game’s greatest example of that.
Television cameras generally follow the ball.
We have seen plenty of Thurston and his greatness under those conditions as he plays so constantly on the ball but what you don’t often see, and need to, to appreciate it, is the effort and intelligence Thurston brings while off the ball.
He simply never stops.
His eyes will dart from oppponent to opponent searching for an opportunity.
He twists and instructs and drives his players and see a footballer a whole lot more complete than the on-ball genius the television cameras highlight.
And if you are not a junior player or a junior coach there is still a valid reason why you should get along and watch Thurston in the flesh at least once.
It’s not often you get the chance to witness genuine greatness.
Here is a walk-up invitation.