http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/titans-walk-tall-on-the-high-ground-after-moral-stand/2007/04/26/1177459883787.html
Roy Masters | April 27, 2007
THE Titans stand as tall as their namesakes after deciding not to cut short the career of troubled Chris Walker. Rugby league is all the 27-year-old has left. It would have been cruel to cancel his contract for the crime of sitting on someone's sunglasses.
OK, there was some pushing and shoving in a Gold Coast nightclub after he accidentally broke the shades, and he may have been over 0.05. But the Titans have already established a reputation as a strong administration, and the first-year club didn't need Walker's head to prove it.
They know the difference between what is legal and what is right; they are willing to confront the growing gap between the media's need for a scapegoat and the public's expectation of justice. They surrendered their original name, the Dolphins, because it was the emblem of the Redcliffe club which plays in the Brisbane competition. "Legally, we were right - but morally, we were wrong," chairman Paul Broughton said of the decision to relinquish claims to the Dolphins moniker. "We would have won in the courts but lost the moral high ground."
When Walker fronted the tribunal Broughton chaired, he admitted everything - basically, breaching the NRL code on alcohol - and the nightclub laid no complaint. NRL clubs have in the past come down with some very strong penalties in response to bad behaviour, such as the Roosters fining second-rower Michael Crocker $10,000 for a punch-up with his best mate outside a Coogee hotel and the Dragons hitting Mark Gasnier for $50,000 for sending a lurid text message.
Penrith's Craig Gower has twice gone on the rampage but, unlike Walker, has refused to admit he has a problem with alcohol. OK, Gower has played for one club while Walker has been released from four - Brisbane and then Souths when the Roosters wanted him to fortify their semi-final campaign; the Roosters when he dropped the ball in the grand final; and Melbourne when he was late for training twice after arguments with his girlfriend.
But the Titans recognised Walker was deeply disturbed and that cutting him would have severed his final lifeline. He conceded alcohol was both the cause and effect of his depression. He accepted the club fine of 25 per cent of his lowly income, volunteered to enter rehabilitation, agreed to psychological counselling and will play in a second-tier league.
As Walker's harshest critic, I have taken a special interest in the former Queensland player. When he walked out on his Souths teammates, apparently accepting a 75 per cent pay cut, I didn't buy the story. When he refused to carry the ball forward in a Roosters' preliminary grand final, I accused him - on the front page of the Herald - of again letting down his mates. But I didn't crucify him when Melbourne sacked him - because I could see he was already down, having lost that cheeky optimism.
In April last year, Storm coach Craig Bellamy asked me to speak to his players after dinner in one of the cheap eateries they prefer. I had nearly completed the book Bad Boys and relayed the essential message I had learnt after researching all four football codes. It wasn't the players with most games, I told them, or Australian jumpers, or man of the match awards, or property accumulated in retirement who were important in the eyes of their peers.
The players who had given of themselves, made sacrifices for the team and laid their bodies on the line these were the ones feted at reunions and remembered most fondly. Afterwards, when only the coaching staff remained, Walker, who had been sitting alone, walked over from a corner and shook my hand. Bellamy, unaware of our history, took no notice of the unspoken peace treaty. Walker responded by winning the players' award in a match during which he took a high ball knowing he would be monstered. But then came his troubles with his girlfriend, an actress, and the Storm cut him.
Like Julian O'Neill, who was once engaged to swimmer Samantha Riley, Walker had a glamorous partner. Like Julian, he was a Queensland representative back. Alcohol was their common problem, and they were forever in trouble. Both had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus, but good men intervened to help; Souths' former president George Piggins rescuing Julian when he appeared to have lost everything.
O'Neill is now leading a successful life in England. Hopefully Walker, the Titans' first try scorer, can make a similar conversion.
Roy Masters | April 27, 2007
THE Titans stand as tall as their namesakes after deciding not to cut short the career of troubled Chris Walker. Rugby league is all the 27-year-old has left. It would have been cruel to cancel his contract for the crime of sitting on someone's sunglasses.
OK, there was some pushing and shoving in a Gold Coast nightclub after he accidentally broke the shades, and he may have been over 0.05. But the Titans have already established a reputation as a strong administration, and the first-year club didn't need Walker's head to prove it.
They know the difference between what is legal and what is right; they are willing to confront the growing gap between the media's need for a scapegoat and the public's expectation of justice. They surrendered their original name, the Dolphins, because it was the emblem of the Redcliffe club which plays in the Brisbane competition. "Legally, we were right - but morally, we were wrong," chairman Paul Broughton said of the decision to relinquish claims to the Dolphins moniker. "We would have won in the courts but lost the moral high ground."
When Walker fronted the tribunal Broughton chaired, he admitted everything - basically, breaching the NRL code on alcohol - and the nightclub laid no complaint. NRL clubs have in the past come down with some very strong penalties in response to bad behaviour, such as the Roosters fining second-rower Michael Crocker $10,000 for a punch-up with his best mate outside a Coogee hotel and the Dragons hitting Mark Gasnier for $50,000 for sending a lurid text message.
Penrith's Craig Gower has twice gone on the rampage but, unlike Walker, has refused to admit he has a problem with alcohol. OK, Gower has played for one club while Walker has been released from four - Brisbane and then Souths when the Roosters wanted him to fortify their semi-final campaign; the Roosters when he dropped the ball in the grand final; and Melbourne when he was late for training twice after arguments with his girlfriend.
But the Titans recognised Walker was deeply disturbed and that cutting him would have severed his final lifeline. He conceded alcohol was both the cause and effect of his depression. He accepted the club fine of 25 per cent of his lowly income, volunteered to enter rehabilitation, agreed to psychological counselling and will play in a second-tier league.
As Walker's harshest critic, I have taken a special interest in the former Queensland player. When he walked out on his Souths teammates, apparently accepting a 75 per cent pay cut, I didn't buy the story. When he refused to carry the ball forward in a Roosters' preliminary grand final, I accused him - on the front page of the Herald - of again letting down his mates. But I didn't crucify him when Melbourne sacked him - because I could see he was already down, having lost that cheeky optimism.
In April last year, Storm coach Craig Bellamy asked me to speak to his players after dinner in one of the cheap eateries they prefer. I had nearly completed the book Bad Boys and relayed the essential message I had learnt after researching all four football codes. It wasn't the players with most games, I told them, or Australian jumpers, or man of the match awards, or property accumulated in retirement who were important in the eyes of their peers.
The players who had given of themselves, made sacrifices for the team and laid their bodies on the line these were the ones feted at reunions and remembered most fondly. Afterwards, when only the coaching staff remained, Walker, who had been sitting alone, walked over from a corner and shook my hand. Bellamy, unaware of our history, took no notice of the unspoken peace treaty. Walker responded by winning the players' award in a match during which he took a high ball knowing he would be monstered. But then came his troubles with his girlfriend, an actress, and the Storm cut him.
Like Julian O'Neill, who was once engaged to swimmer Samantha Riley, Walker had a glamorous partner. Like Julian, he was a Queensland representative back. Alcohol was their common problem, and they were forever in trouble. Both had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus, but good men intervened to help; Souths' former president George Piggins rescuing Julian when he appeared to have lost everything.
O'Neill is now leading a successful life in England. Hopefully Walker, the Titans' first try scorer, can make a similar conversion.
