Poor Gowie:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21237481-5006066,00.html
Enough is enough
February 17, 2007 12:00
Article from:
PENRITH'S Craig Gower would have been one of those kids at school who was the quintessential "bad influence" and "wrong crowd" written about in report cards.
He is the kind of bloke my mother warned me about when I started going out to nightclubs.
"Steer clear of the troublemakers and the ones full of booze,'' she would say. "They hunt in packs and think they are better than anyone else in the place. They are bullies.''
Gower's talent for football has meant he has really never had to reform his boyhood ways. You can't help but think if the man wasn't possessed of such talent, he would have been turfed out of the game long ago.
Sadly, he hasn't been, and sadly, it doesn't look like he will be any time soon.
A quick look at Gower's well-documented decade of bad deeds reads like a criminal record: fined $100,000 after groping the daughter of legend Wayne Pearce during a drunken rampage at the Gold Coast; dumped as Penrith skipper; fined $3000 for breaking Origin camp and going on a - you guessed it - drunken binge; sacked before his Kangaroos debut for exposing himself to a backpacker during a team bonding session at Coogee.
Last weekend, Gower was at it again in a Kings Cross nightclub. He and his mates were turned away from one club before they found a star-struck bouncer who turned a blind eye to their obviously drunken state.
What happened next is the subject of a police investigation.
We do know the allegations: that Gower behaved very badly in the club. He was drunk and abusive. He approached at least one woman and behaved appallingly towards her.
The one common thread here is alcohol. Gower can't hold his grog, his mates say. They reckon he is a lovely bloke "normally'' but no good when he has had too much.
That is a cop-out.
Craig Gower is a badly behaved rugby league player who continues to get away with it because he is apparently a good bloke most of the time. He has been ducking for cover ever since.
Astonishingly, the club backed him up without really investigating the incident.
They claimed the whole thing was a beat-up and then refusedto rule out naming him as captain for 2007.
His coach, Matt Elliott, reckons Gower's behaviour is acceptable because it was out of season.
Elliott is kidding himself if he believes that. If you earn $400,000 a year as an elite athlete, you behave like an elite athlete all year round.
Gower himself appears to be in denial. "I'm not going to get charged with nothing,'' he told waiting media this week. It seems that in his mind, at least, not getting charged clears him of any wrongdoing.
The notion that Gower should be put out of the game is one that the NRL is dodging. It is a familiar story. The NRL says it is a club issue. The club says if the police do not charge Gower, the matter will be closed. And so it goes.
More bad behaviour will inevitably follow.
Rugby league players behaving badly is not new. But rugby league players who behave badly again and again are a blight on the game.
St George's Wes Naiqama is a repeat offender. His bottom was saved by a posse of Dragons players who voted that he should be given another chance.
One of those players was Mark Gasnier, whose own misdemeanours were well documented during a State of Origin drunken binge.
Apparently, players believe they are the ones best equipped to judge these things.
Elements of the rugby league media don't help either. I can't wait for the first Footy Show of the year when Gower will no doubt be a special guest and Fatty will tell us he is one of the nicest blokes in footy.
"All forgiven mate, sweet as a nut,'' he will say.
Then they will introduce his now long-suffering wife, Amanda Flynn, who has remained silent as her husband slides off the rails.
Craig Gower is not a nice bloke.
He has behaved in an offensive and threatening way towards innocent bystanders who will probably never get the chance to see him when he is pleasant and sober.
NRL boss David Gallop can't put every badly behaved player out of the game. There would be footy fields full of them if he did that.
But he and Penrith can make an example of a high-profile player like Gower by saying enough is enough. He should not be captain.
He should be fined heavily and told he can't play until he checks himself into rehab.
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