King of the Hill
Coach
- Messages
- 15,203
Kangaroo Tour Scandal
Life and crimes of X
December 13, 2003
HIS name may have been cleared by the ARL but the anecdotal evidence continues to mount about the player at the centre of the Kangaroo Tour missing money scandal.
For the purposes of this article, we will call the player Mr X.
Officials at one club claimed yesterday X has a major poker machine problem. Players at another reported incidents of theft on a large scale.
"The thing I always said about X is he's always been too smart to ever get caught," one official said.
One player manager estimated X had cost himself $300,000 because of the widespread fallout surrounding the incident, even though he has been exonerated by the ARL.
"He might have picked up $6000 in England but he's gone from a $240,000-a-year player over here to $140,000-a-year," the manager said.
"That's not a real good exchange rate. Not only is he a bad thief he's a bad mathematician."
Officials at one club recalled an incident a few years ago when a local hotelier rang them to say X had just borrowed $500 to play poker machines.
It can also be revealed X has been known to go from training sessions to hotels to play poker machines, and then return to training.
One hotel manager where X would frequent recalled a story when he performed a payout for another customer and there were still some credits remaining in the machine.
The customer who had just won money walked away, only for X, who was playing another machine, to immediately go over and use up the remaining credits.
A player at another club recalled a story a couple of years ago when X was caught selling tracksuits stolen from another team.
At the time X was in reserve grade and it was alleged he went into the home team's dressing rooms while the first grade game was on and stole the tracksuits.
Players at the same club also revealed there were items such as credit cards and wallets taken from dressing rooms that only players and trainers had access to, with X the prime suspect.
Another story from a finals series a few years ago centres on some missing commemorative jumpers which were to be auctioned for charity.
The jumpers were given to officials at one club to be autographed and within 1½ hours of being handed over they were stolen.
Again, only players and officials had access to the room they were stolen from. They have never been recovered and are unable to be sold because they are unique and easily identifiable. There were only eight of the jumpers, they had already been signed by another team and were sitting in an unmarked cardboard box. Where they are now remains a mystery.
The flood of stories about X suggests he has a serious problem and needs someone around him to step in and point him in the direction of help before further damage is done.
X is off contract next year but already two strong Sydney clubs have withdrawn expressions of interest, a claim his manager denies. The missing money scandal continues to taint the success of the Kangaroo Roo tour.
Players who are innocent have been wrongfully accused through e-mails and chat rooms on the internet, where X has also been named.
Most league insiders are aware who X is and recall stories that have a common theme
One official yesterday suggested he was a "pathological liar".
"Not only can the bloke not lie straight in bed he will lie to your face for no reason," the official said.
Life and crimes of X
December 13, 2003
HIS name may have been cleared by the ARL but the anecdotal evidence continues to mount about the player at the centre of the Kangaroo Tour missing money scandal.
For the purposes of this article, we will call the player Mr X.
Officials at one club claimed yesterday X has a major poker machine problem. Players at another reported incidents of theft on a large scale.
"The thing I always said about X is he's always been too smart to ever get caught," one official said.
One player manager estimated X had cost himself $300,000 because of the widespread fallout surrounding the incident, even though he has been exonerated by the ARL.
"He might have picked up $6000 in England but he's gone from a $240,000-a-year player over here to $140,000-a-year," the manager said.
"That's not a real good exchange rate. Not only is he a bad thief he's a bad mathematician."
Officials at one club recalled an incident a few years ago when a local hotelier rang them to say X had just borrowed $500 to play poker machines.
It can also be revealed X has been known to go from training sessions to hotels to play poker machines, and then return to training.
One hotel manager where X would frequent recalled a story when he performed a payout for another customer and there were still some credits remaining in the machine.
The customer who had just won money walked away, only for X, who was playing another machine, to immediately go over and use up the remaining credits.
A player at another club recalled a story a couple of years ago when X was caught selling tracksuits stolen from another team.
At the time X was in reserve grade and it was alleged he went into the home team's dressing rooms while the first grade game was on and stole the tracksuits.
Players at the same club also revealed there were items such as credit cards and wallets taken from dressing rooms that only players and trainers had access to, with X the prime suspect.
Another story from a finals series a few years ago centres on some missing commemorative jumpers which were to be auctioned for charity.
The jumpers were given to officials at one club to be autographed and within 1½ hours of being handed over they were stolen.
Again, only players and officials had access to the room they were stolen from. They have never been recovered and are unable to be sold because they are unique and easily identifiable. There were only eight of the jumpers, they had already been signed by another team and were sitting in an unmarked cardboard box. Where they are now remains a mystery.
The flood of stories about X suggests he has a serious problem and needs someone around him to step in and point him in the direction of help before further damage is done.
X is off contract next year but already two strong Sydney clubs have withdrawn expressions of interest, a claim his manager denies. The missing money scandal continues to taint the success of the Kangaroo Roo tour.
Players who are innocent have been wrongfully accused through e-mails and chat rooms on the internet, where X has also been named.
Most league insiders are aware who X is and recall stories that have a common theme
One official yesterday suggested he was a "pathological liar".
"Not only can the bloke not lie straight in bed he will lie to your face for no reason," the official said.
