I try to ignore it’s our player here, and think about what is right. Yes, if it was Cam Smith we all know it would be vastly different, but the situation is extremely serious so I u derstand the difficulty in deciding what to do...
Still, I feel uncomfortable about this.
- firstly, retroactive rulings like this that seem setup to specifically to affect a single player, but not others are concerning (11yrs seems set to specifically put the line under JDB but otherwise seems arbitrary, however I do not know the sentencing rules so there may be reasons to choose this level that hasn’t been made clear).
- without this change of rules, the player charged will suffer hugely once this is in the media, and if found guilty there career is done, their name dirt etc. Not to mention the gaol sentence.
- proving guilt is hard, as is proving innocence - by putting himself in the situation he has tarred himself for life, and may never play again. At best he is out of the game for 2 years it looks like.
- let me be clear, if he is guilty, I hope he is found guilty and sentenced to the max. (But I feel we will never know for sure)
- I kinda like the idea of enforcing a strong stance against this kind of behaviour, and fully support hardline sentencing by the courts. I also believe that public figures can be used to demonstrate the laws of society... they are paid well and must set a good rather than bad example
- However, I feel deeply concerned that an innocent person could suffer greatly. It’s easy to say that he put himself in the position ( and I think he did from what I heard), but it’s probably impossible not to leave yourself vulnerable
- imagine that approaching finals, a fan of one team creates a potential situation to setup a key player from another team... I am saying that it could be abused and the effect on that player could be huge, regardless of guilt. Yes, they need to be charged, but with planning this probably is far from impossible. ( there are also the regret situations that by the new ruling will force a different behaviour of players... )
- I can see that consistency WILL be a huge issue
So to finish up, i don’t think there is a good solution to this, and although I think player behaviour needs to be cracked down on, punishing prior to being found guilty is deeply disturbing to me. BTW is it not expedient to somehow fast track the case in the interest of public benefit? (Being such a public case) 2 years down the track, accused vs. Victims word isn’t better, and surely the evidence is rather clear already? It’s not like they need more time to determine the result. I realise that the rules should be the same for all, but this is such a public case that it is different...
