NRL / Origin

[LP]

I like watching the Storm, and the odd NRL game in general. but what a waste of our time that Origin game was.

To bring that D-Grade fixed result rubbish to Melbourne is kicking sand in the face of the whole state, origin should be banned, blocked at the border like Fruit Fly's. A complete waste of time for viewers and 90,000 spectators.

It was possibly the most staged disingenuous exhibition of professional sport I've ever seen, reminiscent of The Harlem Globe Trotters playing a clown team!

[LP]

Interesting the NRL insiders have quickly moved to hang the messenger in the Latrell Mitchell snorting saga, largely glossing over the suggestion he was just one of a number of players involved in the event.

The NRL being obsessed with who circulated the images, reminds me strongly of CheatsFC and Jab Snr back on the infamous Mother Hunting episode!

[Lods]

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/wayne-bennet...47810.html

Supportive....but with a pretty clear message..

"Not what he does off the field. It shouldn't be the headline. He is a great player and I am sure he will get it right." Bennett said that any person involved in the NRL had to face the fact they are under different scrutiny than others and said personal responsibility was paramount.

"It is not easy. Most businesses in Australia would fail if they were under the scrutiny we are under. We are under an enormous amount of scrutiny," he said.

"That doesn't give us the reason to do what is not right. The reality is that if you decide to coach in the NRL if you decide to play in the NRL or be an official in the NRL, you are under different rules to everyone else in society.

"If you can't handle that, then don't do the job. Go and be a part of society, otherwise, you will be under scrutiny and you have to learn to live with it and change your behaviour. It is as simple as that."

[LP]

Here is a great example of how sport can get things wrong, it all starts with the perspective of an individual or club over a sport;

“But under the CBA with the NRL, neither the club or NRL Integrity have grounds to stand a player down until the result of that sample comes back. The problem is, there’s a backlog there for eight or 10 weeks.

“You can’t leave a player out eight or 10 weeks to see if his sample is going to be tested.”

Gould went on to reveal that he called Sharks CEO Dino Mezzatesta after Cronulla dealt with a similar incident involving halfback Braydon Trindall earlier in the year.

“When they went there they were told that it could be eight to 10 weeks to find this result of the drug test so Braydon decided to plead guilty to get the matter done and served a month suspension,” Gould said.

If you flip this narrative, and put the integrity of the sport over the individual, they should have no choice but to stand down.

Can you imagine the outcry if Addo-Carr plays, and his team knocks another out of the finals, only to be found guilty of cocaine doping in a month or two? As much as I want to be fair to the player, it's untenable for him to play, in the same way many athletes have suffered similar misfortunes at Olympics, etc., etc., and yet you could argue in individual sports there is at least the opportunity to withdraw medals, yet that is not how they work, and no such opportunity exists in team sports.

[Lods]

There's a game on tonight I hear.
I suspect a lot of the folks on the forum will be looking for a Melbourne win.

As a good New South Welshman I can't agree.
Added to that I spent a bit of time as strength and conditioning trainer with a senior team in Penrith District competition back in the 1970's

It was an almost impossible task trying to do strength and conditioning work with a group of blokes who just wanted to find the nearest pub ten minutes into a training session. ...but we got there in the end (as well as the pub).

The funniest part was the arguments I used to have with the giant front rower... he couldn't understand why he had to do a lot of running training when the furthest he ever ran in a game was about 10 metres. :
He probably had a point ;D