The most maddening aspect of the Bulldogs’ Mad Monday madness is coach Dean Pay, football general manager Gareth Holmes and well-paid security were all there as the madness took place.
It took place a week after NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg warned all 16 club bosses in a conference call: “Oh, and while I’ve got you, for those clubs bowing out, remember on Mad Monday to have a good time but don't do anything stupid.”
Cut to a North Bondi primary school on Tuesday morning. Greenberg steps out of a classroom where he has met young footy fans of the future, walks across the road and dives straight into a media scrum.
He’s there to answer questions about The Daily Telegraph’s front-page screamer on drunken Bulldogs players getting nude while listening to Neil Diamond (I mean, who hasn’t?) at the Harbour View Hotel in The Rocks before another player was captured passed out on the footpath — before regaining consciousness and having a spew.
“There's no doubt we will take some action,” Greenberg said. “We will make some determinations quickly after the Bulldogs finish their report and then I want to start talking about the finals series.
“We had a detailed discussion with the eight clubs that weren't playing finals so the expectations were very, very clear and the Bulldogs have let down the game today.
“I have no problem with people celebrating the end of their season as long as they do it respectfully. On this occasion, they have made some poor choices. That ultimately gives the game a black eye.
“It's embarrassing for the players first of all, it's embarrassing for their club and it's embarrassing for the game.”
NSW Police immediately launched an investigation. So, too, NSW Liquor and Gaming. Many commentators and columnists were terribly outraged. Neil Diamond is sure to be appalled when he finds out.
Why the Tele decided to strategically place photographers with telephoto lenses at a high vantage point to snap drunken footballers attending a private function is a question for them.
Another might be this: was it really necessary to run a front-page photo of winger Marcelo Montoya, bent over and looking at the final result of his technicolour yawn on the pavement? How do we unsee that?
The Bulldogs have used the Harbour View for Mad Monday shenanigans for the past few years. Questions are now being asked about who might have tipped them off. This incident has certainly cast the club in a poor light after a new board was installed in February.
According to those in attendance, the private function was roped off and players couldn’t be seen by other patrons. The photographers got their money shot when the players and coaching staff ventured out onto the balcony to enjoy the intoxicating mix of Tooheys New and the sound of Sweet Caroline.
The Bulldogs and the not-so-easily-outraged person on the street might argue this story is a beat-up. And they are probably right.
At this stage, nobody at the bar or on the street has complained about the Bulldogs’ behaviour. No fluffy white poodle-cross puppy dogs have been harassed. No urine tricks captured on camera phones have surfaced.
Perhaps more telling is that only five outraged people have called or messaged the NRL directly to complain about the damage the incident has done.
Doesn’t matter. Surely clubs understand there are people at every turn looking to expose them, ready for them to slip up.
It’s the law of the rugby league jungle. I hate the rules as much as anyone. But they are the rules. The game continues to have one foot stuck in its working-class past, the other in its professional future.
Johnathan Thurston has just spent the past week telling us how it took him years to realise how important it is to set a standard off the field as much as on it.
The reaction from Club Land was interesting. “How dumb are they?” said one club chief executive. Who? The Bulldogs or the newspaper that published the images? “The Bulldogs for putting themselves in that situation. Don’t give them the chance to embarrass you like that.”
Another club boss said he recently met officials from other sports. “Rugby league is our best competitor,” offered one official. Why? “Because you keep shooting yourselves in the foot.”
The Bulldogs have launched an investigation and it will be interesting to see how Pay, Holmes and other senior officials answer questions about their actions on Monday night.
The Bulldogs’ late-season performances, including wins over the Broncos, Dragons and Warriors, indicated they have the makings of a proper football team. Nobody is talking about that now.
