LeagueNut (Panthers)
Situation vacant
How many of you out there have a job youre truly passionate about?
I dont remember getting a lot of career advice in my formative years, but I do remember someone along the way telling me that if you can find a job where youre doing something you truly love, youre the luckiest man in the world.
Before we carry on, let me tell you about Geoff. His lifelong dream has been to bake pies. He
lurrrves pies, probably more than is acceptable for your average man. Geoff is about to be interviewed for a senior bakers job at Big Pie Corporation Limited lets listen in:
So what experience can you bring to the job?
Well as you can see from my CV Ive got several baking qualifications, Ive been baking pies for 10 years, Ive won several pie-making awards for my new and innovative flavours, and Ive received special commendations from the Mayor for my contributions to the local community.
I see but have you ever actually been in a pie?
Pardon?
You know, have you ever been inside a pie? Part of the ingredients, covered in pastry, that sort of thing?
Of course not!
Then youre obviously not qualified for this position. Next!
Sounds ridiculous, right?
Theres certainly a lot to be said for experience in a job. These days its pretty much a pre-requisite for anything that pays more than minimum wage. But surely there has to be a limit on just how much experience you need to be considered qualified for the job.
And that leads me to my point why is NRL first grade experience almost mandatory for most of the key non-playing jobs in and around our great game?
Take a look at the coaches to start with current and recent coaches have almost always been former first-grade players with the odd exception here and there. Does this mean that former players automatically make better coaches, or are most clubs just too damn scared to try someone different for fear of public ridicule and humiliation?
Trawl through the staff roster at most NRL clubs and youll see former players littered throughout the place trainers, assistant or junior coaches, community workers, and all sorts of other roles that you sometimes have to force yourself to say with a straight face. Personally Im all for more honesty in job titles, so how about instead of community liaison officers we call them gophers being paid to do sweet f**k-all as a post-career salary cap dodge?
Anyway thats getting off the point. How about we look at the media now? You could argue theres a more balanced split in the media with both ex-players and nerdy journos being in almost equal supply. Television roles are also pretty evenly split, although ex-players will have a natural advantage in the game broadcasts thanks to the credibility they bring along although some ex-players seem to be losing their credibility by the week (*cough* Freddy *cough*).
The big difference with media roles is that non-players will all have to face that one key question somewhere in their media careers so how many games did you play then?
What difference does it really make? Why is previous NRL experience considered compulsory before you can have any of your opinions about Rugby League taken seriously?
As soon as a non-ex-player starts saying anything remotely confrontational or at odds with the popular opinion of the day, suddenly theyll be turned on with venom and asked to qualify their opinion by listing how many first grade games or Origin matches theyve played.
Why does it matter? Can my opinion simply be disregarded because I havent laced on my boots in the top grade?
Although were regularly told that fans are the most important part of any club, as soon as a fan crosses the line into delivering their opinion to the general public, all of a sudden theyre prime targets for vitriolic abuse because they havent laced on a boot in their lives.
What is it that makes ex-players so toxic towards their non-playing peers?
Actually if you think about it long enough it all starts making sense if the ex-players can make it as uncomfortable as possible for non-players to fill these roles, therell be more jobs available for their mates who hang up their boots with no career path in front of them.
I guess the system works.
Seven hundred and thirty six words precisely. GO THE PANTHERS!!
