What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

News Milk Fuller story

Vee

First Grade
Messages
5,080
The push is on for mick fuller to fill one of the vacancies on the commission with a puff-piece to smooth the way. Can't find a link, it's been taken down.

Next there was a headline in the online SMH, something like The Letter that proves Mick Fuller stopped a police officer joining the commission. In the time, it took me to read another article and click back, that was taken down and couldn't be found.

The games are on, apparently. I'm a Qlder and don't know the politics down there, how is the COP regarded and who is he aligned with?

Is anyone able to reproduce one or both of the stories or provide links?
 
Last edited:

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
150,744
^^^

NSW Police commissioner Mick Fuller has vowed to crack down on player misbehaviour if he is appointed to the ARL Commission, declaring heavy sanctions should not depend on criminal convictions.

“People should be careful what they wish for,” Fuller told the Herald.

d5092374a0a4e0ea1a824c77bffb2d082f4ad317

Police Commissioner Mick Fuller is about to come onto the ARL Commission.CREDIT:LOUISE KENNERLEY

In a stunning coup for rugby league, Fuller, 52, is expected to fill the one vacant position remaining on the commission ahead of next Friday’s annual general meeting.

It had been reported that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had authorised Fuller to take on the role, although her office said a formal request was yet to be lodged. A decision on his appointment is expected to be made in “the next 48 hours”.

Fines for NRL’s repeat off-field offenders set to skyrocket
In an interview with the Herald on Thursday, Fuller said he could help stem the tide of off-field misbehaviour that has cost the game millions in sponsorship dollars in recent years.

“I’m an expert in employment, people management, brand management and setting behavioural expectations,” Fuller said. “I’ve brought those skills to the NSW Police Force and I think I can bring that to the NRL.

“There seems to be a belief in the NRL that players shouldn’t be sanctioned if there is no criminal conviction. I don’t believe that’s the case. They are doing incredible damage to the reputation of the game. Under employment law, you can be sanctioned. It doesn’t come down to a matter of reasonable doubt. If you’re a plumber, a journalist, whoever, you would be sanctioned for hurting the reputation of your business. In rugby league, you have other stakeholders like the fans and sponsors.”

There has been much speculation about who will take the remaining position on the commission after the departure of Mark Coyne and Amanda Laing last year.


There was talk last week that Coyne could make a controversial return, although chairman Peter V’landys denied it when contacted on Monday.

“I don’t profess to be a great oracle about the game,” Fuller said. “I’m a long-time supporter of the game, a lifelong follower of the Dragons, but I think I can offer help in other areas.”

Asked if there could be a perceived conflict of interest being Police Commissioner and on the commission, Fuller said: “That’s a decision for others to make. I don’t think there will be. I have said to Peter I will only do the job for nothing. Anything I get paid [a directors’ fee of $75,000] will be given to Police Legacy.”

Indeed, Fuller could finally make some definitive decisions on player misbehaviour — an issue the NRL has struggled to address in recent years.

Head office has flagged lifting fines to $100,000, although there is scepticism about it being a deterrent.

Several NRL clubs also remain angry about Broncos prop Payne Haas merely receiving a three-match ban and $50,000 fine for abusing a female police officer on a drunken night out last month.

Fuller was dismayed when former NRL adviser Catharine Lumby said Haas deserved no penalty based on race.

“I think she has had a shocker — that’s a shocker of a comment to make,” Fuller told 2GB at the time. “You’d have to be living under a rock not to know that policing in NSW is very different to anywhere else in the world.”

Fuller has plenty of friends in high places. He is close to the Roosters chairman Nick Politis, Canberra coach Ricky Stuart and Nine expert commentator Phil Gould, who Fuller consulted about taking on the role.


Fuller was fundamental in the relaunch of the NRL season last year in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as facilitating the Warriors to set up in Tamworth for their quarantine period.

“Commissioner Fuller would be a wonderful acquisition for the commission and the rugby league community in general,” Gould said. “Few people know how much Commissioner Fuller did for the NRL last year to get the competition back up and running, virtually saving the NRL from financial disaster. His leadership and life skills, his contacts and experience, will be a great asset to our game. I sincerely hope this happens.”
 

Brick Tamland

Juniors
Messages
104
The letter that shows NSW’s top cop blocked ex-officer from NRL role

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller personally signed off on a recommendation to block a serving officer from sitting on the board of the Cronulla Sharks, a decision the ex-director claimed was “career destroying”.

Just a day after Fuller confirmed he had been approached by Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys to fill a vacancy on the commission, while still serving in his NSW Police role, it can be revealed the state’s top cop played a major role in forcing a then-serving sergeant to resign from a directorship at club level.

Glenn Gorick, a sergeant based at Sutherland who has since left NSW Police, was made to stand down as a Cronulla board member in early 2016 because it didn’t meet NSW Police’s secondary employment policy.

In documents seen by the Herald, Fuller rejected Gorick’s application to sit on the board while also serving as a member of the NSW Police Force.

Gorick’s application was deemed an “extraordinary to high” risk, in part due to the potential damage to the NSW Police Force “from the officer’s involvement with the club as a director stemming from the recent findings of ASADA [into the Sharks’ supplements program”.

Gorick did not have an official role at the club during the 2011 peptides scandal.

The report also says there was a perceived conflict of interest due to the liquor-and-gaming component of the club’s business, which NSW Police said was not fully disclosed in Gorick’s initial application.

The assessment denying Gorick permission to sit on the Cronulla board was signed by his former superintendent Julian Griffiths, and was then rubber-stamped by Fuller, then the assistant commissioner of the central metropolitan region.

0c4f3fc4f95c918c6ef1e094bf5acab4477d0185

A letter signed by Mick Fuller which denied a serving officer from sitting on the board of the Cronulla Sharks.
Fuller told the Herald on Friday he “stands by” the call.

Gorick appealed NSW Police’s decision and provided a letter from former Sharks chief executive Lyall Gorman, which stated the director “will not be involved in any area of our business or any decisions or actions related to liquor or gaming”.

56f256a3d29db0af0609c94449a11b2f2ca8148a

Fuller’s signature is clearly seen on the document.

Gorman also volunteered to manage any perceived risks with Gorick’s non-paying role, which was to focus on the areas of community engagement, fundraising, player welfare and mental health, according to the letter.

But the application was again denied by NSW Police’s human resources chief Carlene York, who “determined that the decision by Assistant Commissioner Fuller was appropriate”.

“They want us to be able to move into other jobs so we try to get ourselves involved in local sport and other entities, but because I had to stand down I lost opportunities to join other boards,” Gorick said.

“It was career destroying.

“I was a highly respected family member who had been part of the club for 40 years, but I was tainted because I had to stand down and wasn’t allowed to disclose why because I was serving at the time. It ruined any future opportunity to return to the board and potentially other employment opportunities.

“I was platforming on player misbehaviour and misdemeanour. Part of my role was to talk to the players in regards to mentoring in wake of incidents with Todd Carney and Blake Ferguson while trying to combat those from happening again.”

Gorick quit the Sharks board in the opening weeks of the 2016 season, in which Cronulla would go on to win their first title. He claimed he was still invited to the grand final by former directors, who were disappointed about the manner in which he had to leave the club.

“Secondary employment for police in the liquor, gaming and racing industry is considered high risk,” Fuller said in a statement.

“On this occasion back in 2015 the officer’s commander believed the applicant did not fully disclose his duties in the application and the risks could not be mitigated with conditions. I recommended the application be declined on that basis.

“I stand by it.”

Fuller has sought approval from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to take on the role with the ARLC, which will hold its AGM next Friday. He has said he will donate his $75,000 directors fee to Police Legacy if appointed.

The ARLC directorship will be vastly different to a board role at some NRL clubs and the commission is charged with setting the overall strategy for the game, and has no interest in running licensed venues.

His potential arrival at rugby league’s top table will be aimed at stemming the issue of player behaviour, with Fuller warning “people should be careful what they wish for”.

The 52-year-old was a huge ally for V’landys and the NRL in their bid to fast track the competition’s resumption after the COVID break last year, and comes with the recommendation of Phil Gould.

But his shift into rugby league hasn’t come without criticism of a conflict of interest, with NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay one of the highest profile people to question the juggling act.

“I think Mick Fuller can be the police commissioner or he can work with rugby league, he cannot be both,” McKay said.

Former Queensland politician Kate Jones was last year appointed to one of two vacant roles on the ARLC which had to be filled after the resignations of Mark Coyne, following revelations of his arrest in Singapore, and Foxtel executive Amanda Laing, who stood down to avoid a perception over a conflict of interest during broadcast rights negotiations.
 

Goblin_Shark

Juniors
Messages
474
I don’t get it.... is Mick fuller gonna follow them around in nights out and hit them on the wrist?

It’s not like these guys have listened to any official warnings before so I see absolutely no impact here.
 

taipan

Referee
Messages
22,402
If he can get rid of the stupidity of some repeat offending players ,that have cost the game a fortune in sponsorship and get more kids playing the game because of a better public image,I'll back him.
I dread the off season each year, waiting for the media to get a another scoop on a p*ssed player playing the tough guy.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
If he can get rid of the stupidity of some repeat offending players ,that have cost the game a fortune in sponsorship and get more kids playing the game because of a better public image,I'll back him.
I dread the off season each year, waiting for the media to get a another scoop on a p*ssed player playing the tough guy.

and how will he do that? As we saw with Fifita and many others nrl is helpless to stop young men being dckheads, if they get draconian in their penalties everyone will be up in arms including the rlpa. Greenberg tried the carrot by giving them all a massive pay rise and announcing they were now “partners in the game”. Nrl and clubs spend a fortune on education, mentoring and coaching these kids. End of day you can’t stop stupidity.
 

Latest posts

Top