What the Rugby League Week poll shows us - Ricketts
Article from: The Courier-Mail
By Steve Ricketts
July 02, 2009 12:00am
IF there is a better bloke than Sydney Roosters Test forward Craig Fitzgibbon playing sport in this country, I would like to meet him.
He is the epitome of good manners, hard work and honesty.
The 32-year-old revealed this week he was part of Rugby League Week's annual players' poll and had answered "no" to the question: "Have you been embarrassed to be an NRL player in 2009?"
Quite rightly he is proud of what he has achieved, on and off the field, and obviously he believes NRL players are, by and large, an honourable group of men.
But in RLW, 60 of 100 players polled said they WERE embarrassed, given some of the off-field events and resulting publicity.
It is a sad state of affairs and it's true some players have been forced to have a good, hard look at themselves after unacceptable behaviour.
But the majority must be thinking: "What the hell is going on here? Why are we so vilified in the community when our good deeds and professionalism outweigh the negatives?"
It seems almost bizarre at a time when it might be argued standards of behaviour across the board are at an all-time low.
Some of it has to do with the willingness of "the general public" to convey even the most trivial of things to an insatiable media.
One Sydney paper even has a daily "Eyespy" column with riveting pieces of information like: "Des Hasler: Spotted walking along the Corso."
At Terrigal leading up to Origin II, the Queensland players had a night out to celebrate the birthdays of Billy Slater and Cameron Smith, and finished up in the same bar as members of the travelling media, including yours truly.
None of us witnessed anything which warranted a story, but we woke two days later to "Drunken Maroons" headlines in a local paper.
It seems a passer-by saw the players outside the bar and phoned 000 to report an incident, which the police investigated before finding nothing untoward had happened.
My love for the game hasn't stopped me writing "negative" stories when required, whether they are to do with off-field incidents, attendances, refereeing or administration.
I'm not going to defend every "journo" covering the game, or bag them either, whatever their motives or preferences when it comes to sport.
There are one or two I have met who would defect to union as quickly as Sonny Bill Williams if it looked like becoming the No. 1 sport.
I must confess to feeling uncomfortable when some scribes - very few I might add - have reacted with joy after learning of another so-called league atrocity.
It is one thing to report things faithfully and to get satisfaction from a job well done. It is another to get a high from the code's misfortune.
The players polled by RLW remain anonymous - Fitzgibbon is an exception - but he was given his own column in the magazine to give his views.
Cowboys skipper Johnathan Thurston was voted best player in the game with 50 votes, 30 more than Melbourne's Greg Inglis.
Bulldogs hooker Michael Ennis was voted biggest sledger and biggest sook, with Cronulla's Paul Gallen the dirtiest player for the second year in a row.
Roosters forward Willie Mason was "most overrated", although 30 players gave a "no comment" for what is the poll's most controversial question.
Wayne Bennett (St George Illawarra) was best coach with 57 votes and Tony Archer (45 votes) best referee. Gavin Badger (22) was voted worst referee.
Asked if they trusted the media, 74 per cent of players said no.
If the players also had been asked whether they trusted the average "Joe in the street", the result might have been just as negative.
