Quality of Knights mercy would not be strained if Cooper Vuna given second chance
BY ROBERT DILLON
NEWCASTLE Knights management deserve to be commended for the disciplinary policies they have introduced in recent years.
In the current climate, the need for players to abide by a code of conduct and uphold a squeaky-clean image has never been more important.
But the case of young winger Cooper Vuna presents an intriguing dilemma for Newcastle's disciplinary committee.
Vuna, as has been widely reported, will front Newcastle Local Court on July 7 after allegedly being caught driving with a suspended licence twice in the space of seven days.
He faces up to two years in jail if convicted. He will also have to appear before Newcastle's disciplinary committee and has been stood down from playing in Newcastle's NRL team until the legal process is complete.
Knights chief executive Steve Burraston has already warned that terminating Vuna's contract is an option.
Rules are rules, but some may query whether such a punishment would be too harsh.
If Vuna is proven guilty in court, then some form of sanction from his club would appear inevitable.
Sacking him, however, would seem remarkably severe.
Just compare Vuna's alleged indiscretions with other high-profile incidents at other clubs.
Manly were willing to continue selecting Brett Stewart after he was charged with sexual assault.
Gold Coast kept picking Anthony Laffranchi when he was facing rape charges that were eventually dismissed. The Roosters fined young hooker Jake Friend $10,000 and stood him down for two weeks on a high-range drink-driving charge.
Friend's teammates Anthony Cherrington and Setaimata Sa have continued to play for the Roosters after being convicted on separate assault charges and ordered to complete community service.
Then just this week, Greg Bird was freed to play the rest of the season with French Super League club Catalans, after being released on bail following his 16-month jail sentence for glassing his girlfriend.
Vuna's alleged misdemeanours are not even in the same ballpark as some of those scandals.
Knights officials should also consider that they recruited the Tongan international as a naive 19-year-old who had never lived away from his parents' home in Auckland.
He now has a partner and two-year-old son to support.
But perhaps the most compelling argument that Vuna deserves a measure of leniency from his club is one of his own teammates.
Newcastle signed Wes Naiqama at the start of the 2008 season after he had recently completed four months of periodic detention, having been convicted not twice, but four times, of driving while disqualified.
The Knights gave Naiqama a second chance.
Maybe Vuna deserves one too.
Herald
