spacemanspiff
Juniors
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- 123
I seriously think we should take the bloke back. He can serve the 200 hours dealt to him by the justice system - no sense punishing him for the rest of his life.
We could sure use the bloke.
Hope slipping for Latu's league career
Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 4:07 PM
Red tape appears to have derailed disgraced Kiwi international Tevita Latu's rugby league comeback.
Latu's manager Peter Brown said time was running out for the sacked Cronulla forward to receive permission from the Australian parole board and take up a deal with English Super League club Wakefield Trinity for the rest of the season.
If the deal falls through, so may Latu's rugby league career.
The British Home Office only grants work permits to overseas players who have appeared in the majority of fixtures for their club the previous season.
Latu, 25, will fall below the limit needed to play in the 2007 Super League after being sacked by Cronulla and suspended indefinitely by the NRL for a May 22 incident which left a 19-year-old woman with a broken nose.
He successfully appealed against his sentence for the assault, having eight months periodic detention reduced to 200 hours of community service.
Brown has asked the Australian parole board to allow his client to delay the community service until after the Super League season ends so he can take up the Wakefield Trinity deal.
Wakefield Trinity has reportedly already lodged Latu's registration to beat a July 18 Super League player signing deadline.
But Brown was not confident of the deal going through.
"At this stage he won't be going. At the moment he hasn't got it (parole board permission) and if it doesn't come through by the end of the week then he won't be going at all," Brown said from New Zealand.
"They (parole board) have indicated to us that it probably won't happen - we are just waiting to hear confirmation.
"We've done all we can, it's out of our control. If we haven't got a response by Friday it is dead and buried."
Brown hinted that the delay may permanently derail Latu's bid to play in England, therefore ending his rugby league career.
"We wanted to get him over to the UK so he can progress his career but at the moment he's got a couple of stumbling blocks in front of him," he said.
"We will have to evaluate his career and see what he wants to do once he does his community service and comes back to New Zealand in a month or six weeks' time."
Brown said Latu remained philosophical.
"He is accepting what is happening and moving on. He wants to progress his career like anybody because it's his avenue to making a living but whatever happens he will accept it - just like he has done throughout the whole scenario.
"I just spoke to him. He said `whatever happens, happens'. At the moment he is looking forward to coming home to see his family."
Brown said Latu still lived in the Cronulla area but had no direct contact with the NRL club.
"We wish that he was still there, but that's life and he has to move on," he said.
A Wakefield spokesman told The Independent newspaper in England that the club was "still hoping" to use Latu for the remaining seven games of the 2006 Super League season.
http://www.nrl.com/News/Latest/NewsArticle/tabid/76/NewsId/2100/Default.aspx
We could sure use the bloke.
Hope slipping for Latu's league career
Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 4:07 PM
Red tape appears to have derailed disgraced Kiwi international Tevita Latu's rugby league comeback.
Latu's manager Peter Brown said time was running out for the sacked Cronulla forward to receive permission from the Australian parole board and take up a deal with English Super League club Wakefield Trinity for the rest of the season.
If the deal falls through, so may Latu's rugby league career.
The British Home Office only grants work permits to overseas players who have appeared in the majority of fixtures for their club the previous season.
Latu, 25, will fall below the limit needed to play in the 2007 Super League after being sacked by Cronulla and suspended indefinitely by the NRL for a May 22 incident which left a 19-year-old woman with a broken nose.
He successfully appealed against his sentence for the assault, having eight months periodic detention reduced to 200 hours of community service.
Brown has asked the Australian parole board to allow his client to delay the community service until after the Super League season ends so he can take up the Wakefield Trinity deal.
Wakefield Trinity has reportedly already lodged Latu's registration to beat a July 18 Super League player signing deadline.
But Brown was not confident of the deal going through.
"At this stage he won't be going. At the moment he hasn't got it (parole board permission) and if it doesn't come through by the end of the week then he won't be going at all," Brown said from New Zealand.
"They (parole board) have indicated to us that it probably won't happen - we are just waiting to hear confirmation.
"We've done all we can, it's out of our control. If we haven't got a response by Friday it is dead and buried."
Brown hinted that the delay may permanently derail Latu's bid to play in England, therefore ending his rugby league career.
"We wanted to get him over to the UK so he can progress his career but at the moment he's got a couple of stumbling blocks in front of him," he said.
"We will have to evaluate his career and see what he wants to do once he does his community service and comes back to New Zealand in a month or six weeks' time."
Brown said Latu remained philosophical.
"He is accepting what is happening and moving on. He wants to progress his career like anybody because it's his avenue to making a living but whatever happens he will accept it - just like he has done throughout the whole scenario.
"I just spoke to him. He said `whatever happens, happens'. At the moment he is looking forward to coming home to see his family."
Brown said Latu still lived in the Cronulla area but had no direct contact with the NRL club.
"We wish that he was still there, but that's life and he has to move on," he said.
A Wakefield spokesman told The Independent newspaper in England that the club was "still hoping" to use Latu for the remaining seven games of the 2006 Super League season.
http://www.nrl.com/News/Latest/NewsArticle/tabid/76/NewsId/2100/Default.aspx
