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OPINION: Joseph Suaalii is being set up to fail
Robert Crosby | March 1 2021 7:58AM
I worry about the level of attention being afforded to Joseph Suaalii.
I accept the NRL, broadcasters and media have a vested interest in promoting the game, but in the case of a teenager who until this weekend had only shown talent playing against other teenagers, there appears to be a severe lack of interest in ensuring his welfare.
The way Suaalii has been covered has been nothing short of irresponsible. Never before has an untested NRL player - who is legally a child - received such a disproportionate level of attention.
Off the back of a flashy highlights reel and a media appetite for content that can never be satisfied, Suaalii has been thrust onto a podium of clickbait journalism alongside the likes of Latrell Mitchell and Cameron Smith.
When have you ever heard of a reserve grade trial being live-streamed solely for the purpose of promoting a player who has yet to play first grade? As I write these words the absurdity of the situation becomes greater and greater.
As far as asinine coverage goes it is rivalled only by Fox League's Hayne Cam and Channel 9 airing an internal monologue from Sonny Bill Williams during his return to rugby league.
Suaalii may be physically capable of playing rugby league at a professional level this year, but mentally he cannot possibly be prepared for the hyper-intense scrutiny that is set to come his way.
His performance for North Sydney over the weekend was not without praise. He produced an early defensive effort to prevent a try that spoke more of his ability than the two he scored.
But it was one game.
Will he be able to live up to the hype when he requires a painkilling injection to get on the field for a match that has no bearing on the ladder?
When the day inevitably comes where he has a shocker, how soon will the fawning attention he is currently receiving turn to vitriol? He won't merely have an "off night", he'll be decried as "overrated, overpaid and reading into his own hype"...
Read the rest of the column here.
Robert Crosby | March 1 2021 7:58AM
I worry about the level of attention being afforded to Joseph Suaalii.
I accept the NRL, broadcasters and media have a vested interest in promoting the game, but in the case of a teenager who until this weekend had only shown talent playing against other teenagers, there appears to be a severe lack of interest in ensuring his welfare.
The way Suaalii has been covered has been nothing short of irresponsible. Never before has an untested NRL player - who is legally a child - received such a disproportionate level of attention.
Off the back of a flashy highlights reel and a media appetite for content that can never be satisfied, Suaalii has been thrust onto a podium of clickbait journalism alongside the likes of Latrell Mitchell and Cameron Smith.
When have you ever heard of a reserve grade trial being live-streamed solely for the purpose of promoting a player who has yet to play first grade? As I write these words the absurdity of the situation becomes greater and greater.
As far as asinine coverage goes it is rivalled only by Fox League's Hayne Cam and Channel 9 airing an internal monologue from Sonny Bill Williams during his return to rugby league.
Suaalii may be physically capable of playing rugby league at a professional level this year, but mentally he cannot possibly be prepared for the hyper-intense scrutiny that is set to come his way.
His performance for North Sydney over the weekend was not without praise. He produced an early defensive effort to prevent a try that spoke more of his ability than the two he scored.
But it was one game.
Will he be able to live up to the hype when he requires a painkilling injection to get on the field for a match that has no bearing on the ladder?
When the day inevitably comes where he has a shocker, how soon will the fawning attention he is currently receiving turn to vitriol? He won't merely have an "off night", he'll be decried as "overrated, overpaid and reading into his own hype"...
Read the rest of the column here.