why is everyone digging into paterson? he didn't want it to go any further than the footy field... but the media just wanted to run with it. he took offense to the remark from billy, he fronted up and offered some biffo, slater turned it down twice, like the cat he is.. and it should have been left at that, like the hundreds of other push'n'shoves we've seen over the years.
there's a difference between telling someone to go and have a cry... and telling someone that has had a well publicised battle with depression to go have a cry. it's not the words itself, but the connotations that go with it. the same as if billy told pato to go slash his wrists about it, etc. the words are practically meaningless and soft... but it's the fact that it was a blatent reference to a serious health issue in patersons life that aggrevated cory. i'm not surprised by some of the redneck, backward hick responses in this thread... or the politically correct nutjob responses either. the truth is the issue is neither one side of this argument or the other, and should have been left at what we saw during the match on TV and from the stands.
So anyone who has depression is off limits from sledging, incase they are offended by it? What about injuries, if a bloke is playing hurt are we going to stop players running at him, incase they do more damage?
This is RL mate, if his depression is still as much as an issue that when he's told to have a cry he reacts like that, he probably should get out of the game for a little longer and conquer his demons for good
Its exactly the same as telling anyone else to go and have a cry, the difference is Cory is not able to brush it off as easily, thats his burden to bare. As correctly stated, Slater wouldnt have got in trouble in grade 4 for saying that in the school yard, he might be told not to be a bully, but hey we're in the real world and cory's playing a man's game
if that kind of jibe (and lets get real here, it was f**king piss weak, if Slater is in any strife surely its because for a man his age he came out with something my 5 year old nephew might spit out!), then he's clearly not ready to return to the football field.
Cant have one rule for Cory and one for the rest. Either outlaw sledging (Perish the thought!!! I love a good sledge) or Cory has to learn to deal with the fact he might get sledged in a manner that could be perceived as having a dig at depression
And there is a huge difference between saying "Harden the f**k up" or "go and have a cry", as opposed to "go and kill yourself you depressed merkin"
I realise Cory didnt want this whole public thing and that was the media, but his reaction at the time was his reaction. Clearly the remark got to him, if he's going to be put off that easily, frankly he's a liability. Sledgers will target him now thanks to that reaction. And who knows, they might earn themselves a penalty, hell, they might even get to play against 12 men for the remainder of the game
Cory needs to learn not to react. Sledging happens. That was in no way a shot at his depression, you hear that exact stuff 100x a game, just so happen this time it was said to someone who suffers depression, he can either deal with that, or he cant, and if he cant, perhaps he needs to take more time to address his issues.
