I actually think its a very appropriate action. The guy was involved in an incident with Gasnier, who then left. Our players decide to be heroes and confront the guy at McDonalds later in the night when it had nothing to do with them and get involved in a scuffle. It was 4am on a monday for ffs and what if the guy had the gun with him then instead of later.
They put themselves in an unnecessary situation cause they were full of booze and should know better by now, especially Hayne. They obviously don't think much of the fans or the club if they think they can act in public however they damn well please. They are public figures and like it or not, they need to be aware of that 24/7.
Congratulations.
The amount of excuses being made for these blokes is ridiculous.
Being in the Cross, and 4am have nothing to do with the penalty, or the need for it.
What they did which requires censure was:
1. Hayne becoming involved in Gasnier's scuffle;
2. Hayne and the other 2 blokes then later approaching the individual to renew the argument. At that point they were no longer "helping a mate" or acting in self defense. They were participating in an aggressive act that was inevitably going to escalate the violence. (This is by far the more serious of the two)
I know there may be some doubt over precisely what happened as Strides has pointed out - but remember the club has interviewed all 3, and had access to their police statements.
We need to crack down from our club's point of view - not because they might get shot. I accept that is a one off and extremely unlikely scenario.
We need to take firm action because when you give these blokes too much rope they hang themselves.
I personally don't want to see these 34 young talents become the new Mark Gasnier or Willie Mason ie an elite player who is a notorious mug lair who doesn;t live up to his obvious talent.
I also think some of our senior players are probably guilty of that themselves ...
This is a step in the right direction and will hopefully give all 3 the necessary hunger to make the most of their ability.
