RUGBY LEAGUE has become a code of over-reaction, says Wests' player of the century, Tom Raudonikis, who predicted the Broncos would have a poor season next year following the decision to recall players from holidays after halfback Peter Wallace was ejected from a Sunshine Coast hotel.
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Raudonikis, NSW's inaugural State of Origin captain, said Wallace, who played for the Blues this year, was merely celebrating his 23rd birthday and claimed NRL clubs had misread the public's tolerance of revelry and administrators were responding to hyped media reports.
"I'll tie myself to the Wally Lewis statue at Suncorp Stadium and let anyone throw stones at me if they haven't played up on their 23rd birthday or a big occasion," the Brisbane-based former halfback said, using a biblical allusion.
While not quoting Matthew 23 - "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!"- he did accuse the media of "over-reacting to the kids having a good time", adding: "Everything is dramatised today."
Raudonikis predicted a backlash by Broncos players at the club's decision to recall all but World Cup players from holidays following Wallace's ejection from an Irish pub in Mooloolaba, where he danced on a table with a teammate.
Broncos chief executive Bruno Cullen has described Wallace's offence as "minor", although the former Penrith player has "form" for other alcohol-fuelled incidents, according to sources.
"The camp won't be happy with Bruno bringing them back for something as paltry as getting drunk on your birthday," said Raudonikis. "It's going to be a hard year for them. I don't think they'll make the top eight."
Police arrested Wallace after he tried to re-enter the hotel, and he was charged with being disorderly on a licensed premises.
Raudonikis argued that the police, the club and hotel industry and sports administrators are driven to action by media frenzy, rather than public disenchantment with boorish behaviour.
Former Broncos coach Wayne Bennett has some sympathy with this view, telling friends recently that representatives of the media and the sport's administrators should convene to discuss the zealous competition to report and punish the latest player outrage.
He noted that 52,000 fans filled Suncorp Stadium for the Broncos-Storm match, which followed a week of headlines about police and club investigations into sexual-assault allegations against players Sam Thaiday, Karmichael Hunt and Darius Boyd after an incident with a woman in the toilet of a nightclub. The three players received the biggest cheer from the crowd, according to those monitoring the reaction, which Bennett has translated to mean the public weren't judging them on media reports.
However, Bennett's refusal to enforce alcohol bans during the semi-finals was a part cause of the Broncos problems, according to club sources.
Incoming coach Ivan Henjak was keen to implement a zero-alcohol policy but Bennett, leaving the club after 21 years to join the Dragons, was opposed.
A recent sports law conference in Melbourne also raised the issue of clubs punishing players for actions when no police charges have been made. The Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association held a session at the MCG last week at which delegates questioned the right of clubs to stand players down ahead of police completing their inquiries.
Footballers have now joined lawyers, doctors and politicians in professions that expect a higher standard of behaviour and in which discipline can be imposed for breaches, even if the athlete has been cleared by the courts.
While players have never been more empowered than the present, with senior leadership groups imposing punishments at many clubs, there is a growing perception this is for the convenience of officials.
"They have become Pontius Pilates," one player manager said. "They protest, 'It has nothing to do with me' because it suits them."
Broncos officials have admitted some of their off-field problems can be related to the recent retirement or salary-cap driven exit of senior players, such as Shane Webcke and Petero Civoniceva.
But Raudonikis believes the public will still tolerate revelry by the stars. "Chain me to the statue if you want to prove what I say," he said. "But there's a song lyric which keeps going around in my head, 'Leave the kids alone'."
A leading Brisbane-based player manager and former policeman, Jim Banaghan, pointed out that being chained to a statue was an offence in itself.
"I do agree with Tommy being chained in public," he said, mocking a trend whereby sport is out of sync with society. "But he deserves to be stoned for chaining himself to an iconic Queensland symbol."
