For months Wade Graham has sat and stewed angry that his mate and skipper Paul Gallen has copped it between the eyes.
Angry at the broken promises and upset at the NRL's lack of support, Graham has decided it's time to speak out.
And time to back a mate. Graham has been doing it privately and has been checking up on Gallen and other teammates regularly. When the Sydney media was hunting Gallen on the day the Sharks' bans were put in place, Graham was by his captain's side. I found the pair sharing a meal late that day in a Cronulla cafe.
Gallen was with his kids and the man who will next captain the Sharks when Gallen calls it a day. While Gallen was around Sydney for most of that time, apart from the ill-fated Hawaii trip, Graham took off.
"When we were suspended I got out of the country," he said. "I had time in Bali, Europe
and America, I didn't want to be here and I had mates overseas I could stay [with] ... I needed to get out. We were getting hammered, people don't understand the position we were in.
"What they don't get is that we are all someone's brother, someone's son, a husband, a dad or a boyfriend to someone ... this affected all of us. We now get called drug cheats, but in the end we had to accept it. We had no choice the decision was taken away from us.
"In the end it was just a case of getting it over and done with. It was the only avenue available to us. I wasn't keen on being stood down and fighting for the next 18 months and not playing football. I didn't want anything to do with footy.
"I watched a game that 'Chiko' (James Segeyaro) played because he is a mate of mine. I'm glad I got away because I wouldn't have been able to go through what Gal went through. I felt for the bloke."
Gallen played the perfect innings until he tweeted about the NRL. And now Graham has become the first Sharks player to back him.
"We all know that Gal didn't say it in the right way he would do it differently if he had the chance," he said. "But the point that he was making was 100 per cent spot-on. We didn't get support from the NRL. We had one meeting. They looked us in the eye and said they would be there for us. They would support us and that things would be OK.
"They said there would be better communication and transparency. We did not hear one word from the NRL. The only time I got a call from them was when the integrity unit were wanting to talk to us about Mad Monday. They had no trouble tracking us down when they wanted to discuss that with us. The person I heard from time and again was Steve Noyce.
"He cared about us as players and people. Whenever there was something in the papers he'd ring up to see if we were OK. And he'd remind us that he was just a phone call away if we needed anything at all.
"So everything that Gal was saying was spot-on. I really feel like I needed to say something to support him because he has been out there on his own. He is a great man and a great leader and I can't wait to get back to training and playing with Gal."
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...-silence-for-paul-gallen-20141122-11ryz0.html
Angry at the broken promises and upset at the NRL's lack of support, Graham has decided it's time to speak out.
And time to back a mate. Graham has been doing it privately and has been checking up on Gallen and other teammates regularly. When the Sydney media was hunting Gallen on the day the Sharks' bans were put in place, Graham was by his captain's side. I found the pair sharing a meal late that day in a Cronulla cafe.
Gallen was with his kids and the man who will next captain the Sharks when Gallen calls it a day. While Gallen was around Sydney for most of that time, apart from the ill-fated Hawaii trip, Graham took off.
"When we were suspended I got out of the country," he said. "I had time in Bali, Europe
and America, I didn't want to be here and I had mates overseas I could stay [with] ... I needed to get out. We were getting hammered, people don't understand the position we were in.
"What they don't get is that we are all someone's brother, someone's son, a husband, a dad or a boyfriend to someone ... this affected all of us. We now get called drug cheats, but in the end we had to accept it. We had no choice the decision was taken away from us.
"In the end it was just a case of getting it over and done with. It was the only avenue available to us. I wasn't keen on being stood down and fighting for the next 18 months and not playing football. I didn't want anything to do with footy.
"I watched a game that 'Chiko' (James Segeyaro) played because he is a mate of mine. I'm glad I got away because I wouldn't have been able to go through what Gal went through. I felt for the bloke."
Gallen played the perfect innings until he tweeted about the NRL. And now Graham has become the first Sharks player to back him.
"We all know that Gal didn't say it in the right way he would do it differently if he had the chance," he said. "But the point that he was making was 100 per cent spot-on. We didn't get support from the NRL. We had one meeting. They looked us in the eye and said they would be there for us. They would support us and that things would be OK.
"They said there would be better communication and transparency. We did not hear one word from the NRL. The only time I got a call from them was when the integrity unit were wanting to talk to us about Mad Monday. They had no trouble tracking us down when they wanted to discuss that with us. The person I heard from time and again was Steve Noyce.
"He cared about us as players and people. Whenever there was something in the papers he'd ring up to see if we were OK. And he'd remind us that he was just a phone call away if we needed anything at all.
"So everything that Gal was saying was spot-on. I really feel like I needed to say something to support him because he has been out there on his own. He is a great man and a great leader and I can't wait to get back to training and playing with Gal."
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...-silence-for-paul-gallen-20141122-11ryz0.html
