What’s the Buzz: Jack de Belin hails Flanagan critic as a man of the people

The Dragons complained to the NRL about one fan’s abuse of Kyle and Shane Flanagan. Jack de Belin went up to him and called him a ‘man of the people’, writes Phil Rothfield.

The St George-Illawarra Dragons recently lodged a complaint with the NRL integrity unit over the social media abuse of Shane and Kyle Flanagan.

So you can imagine how ordinary it looked when departing forward Jack de Belin approached – and embraced – the abuser on the fence in Wollongong after last weekend’s win over the Parramatta Eels.

There is now a video doing the rounds as De Belin says to the supporter: “You’re the man of the people.”

Really? A man of the people?

A man who has been smashing his coach and his teammate for weeks with shocking abuse.

Two weeks ago, the Dragons lodged an official complaint with the NRL.

As a result, 25-year-old apprentice carpenter and content creator Jean-Claude Bitar had his Instagram account shut down.

Now he’s back up and running again.

Jack de Belin interacts with Bitar at WIN Stadium.

So we approached new Dragons chief executive Tim Watsford to get his thoughts.

Surprisingly he didn’t see too much wrong with it.

Or maybe it was more a case of him not wanting to throw more fuel on the fire around De Belin’s departure and the constant commentary around his coach and halfback.

“It was an emotional week for Jack and we love Jack’s passion for the club and fans and he will no doubt share interactions like this with many of our supporters after every game for the rest of this year,” he said.

In fairness, de Belin’s manager Steve Gillis said his player was not on social media and wasn’t aware that he was the person who had abused the Dragons.

We contacted Bitar but he declined to comment.

He had previously told news.com.au that the NRL should be focusing on “bigger issues of the game” and vowed he “will not be silenced”.

“They’re taking away the voice of a fanatic fan who spends his hard-earned money to support the club through thick and thin. I’ve been here for over 20 years and I never miss a game.”

Originally published as What’s the Buzz: Jack de Belin hails Flanagan critic as a man of the people