Part of the problem is Souths poor history with this stuff. When it happened and they tried to sweep it under the carpet, most fans thought "here we go again......Souths, violence, misbehaviour, they won't care". We've seen it in the past as well as recently, so we know it's not an isolated thing and we know Souths won't be making a stand on the issue. They hold a pretty low rent position when it comes to violence. With a violent offender, you can either sack them or sign them. It was never in question what Souths would do.
Fans have been blasting the Fifita's for yelling at a grown man - what reaction do you expect a woman-basher to get? I expect it to be similar to the one fans give Lui and Ferguson.
No, Souths told the NRL and put out a press release.
It was never kept in house. That was in May.
He had played 5 games at the time so was not widely known.
He pleaded guilty in court, with the sentence given to him in November (2 year behaviour).
Should he have then sat out from May or waited for the case to conclude is where the consternation lies. No doubt what will happen in such cases in the NRL if they plead guilty.
That all said, if someone says that they are not guilty, so they can play waiting for their case, and are subsequently found guilty, they should cop a bigger time out.
He has a permanent ban in place from the NRL for any reoffending, and rightly so. What he did was the pits, but if other players can get one more chance to play again, then so should he.
When we kicked out guys like James Roberts or Junior Vai Vai for example, who then signed for other clubs, I didn't hear anyone complaining.
