Burro backs Smith to avoid dismissal
BY BRETT KEEBLE
23/12/2008 4:00:00 AM
KNIGHTS chief executive Steve Burraston was sure under 20s coach Rohan Smith would not experience the same fate as former hooker Terence Seu Seu, who was sacked by the club in March after being charged with drink-driving.
The son of Knights head coach Brian Smith, Rohan was pulled over by police in Hunter Street, Newcastle on Saturday morning around 7.30am and charged with having a low-range prescribed concentration of alcohol after allegedly failing a breath test.
Burraston said Rohan Smith, who had been at a Knights staff Christmas party on Friday night and was driving to training at Mayfield the next day, recorded a reading of 0.065 and would face Newcastle Local Court on January 20.
The Knights sacked Seu Seu after he was charged with mid-range drink-driving, recording a PCA of 0.145. As a provisional driver, he was subject to a zero blood-alcohol limit.
Burraston said that was the last straw for Seu Seu after a string of alcohol-related breaches of the club's code of conduct, including an assault charge arising from a nightclub incident in August last year.
Seu Seu, now 21, was signed by Cronulla's Jim Beam Cup feeder club and went on to play 14 NRL games for the Sharks this year.
Burraston said it was up to the Knights' board to determine whether Smith had to front the club's disciplinary committee and face any sanction, but he would recommend against it. Several directors were now out of the area on holidays, he said, and the board would not convene until the next scheduled meeting at the end of January.
"I wouldn't like to pre-empt the board's decision but it would be my strong recommendation that it wouldn't go that far," Burraston said after briefing Knights chairman Rob Tew yesterday morning.
"I've spoken to Rohan on two occasions since the incident.
"He certainly knows he's made a mistake. He's extremely upset by the whole thing he's shattered and it's more a case of the circumstances he got himself into. Had he maybe had one drink less, or left home maybe half an hour later, he probably would have been OK.
"While I don't condone drink-driving at all, from all the evidence I've had put in front of me, this is truly a mistake and a judgement error rather than someone committing a deliberate offence."
Burraston said Seu Seu was sacked because he was a serial offender.
"The player that we sacked after a DUI offence had committed a number of different alcohol-related misdemeanours. That wasn't the first time," he said.
"This [Smith] is someone who, first offence ever, is of exemplary character and is really at the bottom end of low-range. In the two years he's been here, every report we get from everyone at the club, including myself, is how professional he is and how much his character suits the sort of values we're trying to build, so it's certainly way out of character for him."
Burraston said the Knights had taken steps to change the club's "grog culture" and, though the incident was unfortunate, it would serve as a cautionary tale to all staff and players.
"I think we've all learned a lesson from it . . . We will certainly be educating all our staff and players about the dangers of driving the next morning after having a few drinks the night before."
