Players Should Own Their Behaviour And Their Decisions

Aug 23, 2013 League Freak National Rugby League 0

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Deflecting responsibility is the new favourite past time in Rugby League.

Whether it is a player wanting more money than the are on now, a playing group getting rid of a coach, a player with an off field issue or a player with an on field issues….it’s always someone else fault.

The thing hat pisses your average fan off isn’t actually what players do or say. I think you’ll find that most people have pretty low expectations they set for Rugby League players. People get pissed off when they feel like a player is trying to bullshit the fan base.

Let’s look at the Ben Barba situation as an example….

Had Ben Barba said that he was thinking about moving back to Queensland for a while and that his manager got word that the Broncos could double his salary, people would understand. He doesn’t need to talk about his family or his kids or anything like that. If Ben Barba just come out and said “The Broncos are offering me double what I am on right now and over a longer term deal” I think most fans wouldn’t blame him for asking the Bulldogs for a release.

Blake Ferguson finds himself in a similar situation. In Ferguson’s case, he wants to move back to Sydney. He will also look to cash in on the form he has shown this year.

If Ferguson came out and said he liked living in Sydney, he was missing the lifestyle, that he signed his last contract at a very different point in his career and that he wanted to maximise his earning capacity now rather than in a couple of years time, who could honestly blame him for any of that?

Instead he and his management team are trying to “manage” the situation. It’s not about money, it’s about being closer to family. Give me a break….every knows the situation. There is not need to lie about it.

While on the Raiders, we have a player base that went over the coaches head and to him sacked. Now, none of the players are willing to take responsibility for their actions! What did they expect would happen when they went to Raiders management to tell them they were not happy with the coach!

I don’t understand why people within Rugby League feel the need to try and massage every single situation to try and make themselves look better. All it does is make them look worse. People hate liars above just about everything else in Rugby League. If people were honest about their motivation I think people would be far more accepting of what players end up doing.

That is why I have no problems with Darius Boyd and the way he brushes the media.

Darius Boyd gives every team he plays for 100%. You can not fault his play at all. Off the field, he wants NOTHING to do with the media and he doesn’t pretend otherwise.

The only person that hurts is Darius Boyd. It hurts his earning capacity. If that is what he wants to do, that is fine. At least he is upfront and honest about it.

That is more than you can say for a lot of other players in the game today.

In this day and age image means a lot to players. What they don’t understand in the rarefied air of a football club where they are surrounded by very few people that say the word “No” to them is that the general publish doesn’t buy the bullshit.

Players should just be honest with supporters, for better or worse. If a player only cares about money, that is fine, just say it.

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• Ben Barba, Blake Ferguson, Darius Boyd

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