One point most have overlooked, and a really fascinating part of this latest issue where it came from.
Its really odd that the reporters that are at the coal face and have direct access in to the Brumbies were all blind-sided by this and it came as en exclusive via the Daily Tele?
IMHO, If that doesn't scream leak or beat-up then than I don't know what does. If there is truth in the report of players being investigated then it shows Jones was keeping it quiet.
The really troublesome part for most people I have spoken to, from supporters to casual observer is that it took Jones to be a whistleblower to bring this all to light, and its enough for the AFP to be involved and the Board working for weeks to get him ousted.
Based on the facts we know, he alone since his appointment has been able to do what nobody else at the Brumbies has been able to do for the last few years (with a bag of cash) and get them back on track financially.
So far no mud that has been thrown at him about his performance and conduct has stuck, and we can see that by the board still not being able to sack him. o
Blame him should you feel you want to but in reality until he exposed the questionable nature of what is going on inside the Brumbies we were blissfully being kept in the dark and misled by the board as our club crept ever closer to financial peril.
So with millions of dollars gone and we can't get answers where or why, the Brumbies struggling financially with no capital to draw after having millions from the Griffith sale, which even the price of that sale is now being questioned, will we ever get the truth? Have the skeletons been locked away again by those who created them and are at the heart of why the Brumbies are potentially on the edge of existence?
I don't know who is right or wrong but I know this: until Jones showed up it was loss after loss year in year out for the Brumbies and no answers or any transparency to where the money has gone.
I, like many, fear we are about to return to the old way, and will never get to see the truth with the AFP report suppressed. It will effect people who look at the club they love especially when they know things were covered up and the supporters deliberately kept in the dark.
Do we really think a CEO with any credibility will see things differently to Jones?
Unlikely IMHO, so the only difference could be in their approach, but the same issues will need to be dealt with so how this will not be rinse and repeat? Only if they appoint a stooge who will continue with the previous years worth what appears to be the suppression of the truth and questionable deals.
I do wonder if Jones did succeed if there was any chance of recovering any of the millions of dollars for the Brumbies. Imagine the benefit both to the club and rugby in the ACT. I know as a supporter that what would be the most important part - financial security as opposed to egos, power and politics, and if their is some blood spilled; so be it for the sake of the future.
I never though as a supporter of the Brumbies that I would find myself wishing and hoping that at the conclusion of the AFP investigation, there is substance to the disclosure and subsequent investigation and that the matter is referred to the DPP with a view of bringing prosecution action against the club I love so we. just so we can get some truth.