Rugby League players who could have/could make the switch

[wamberal]

Gallup was quoted extensively as dreading phone calls telling him of the latest disgrace.
Even though he knew "it was good for business"
Go figure.

I don't think he recommends it as a business strategy for any code,somehow...

Anybody who gets involved in running the other code needs to be a lot tougher than Gallop.

 

[amirite]

Note: Not about a leaguie, but a code hopper none the less.

Junior Leinster rugby and Gaelic football player Conor Nash has just signed an International Rookie contract with the Hawthorn AFL team.

Article: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...r/news-story/3916d76bd7d67a1112f91b1d5d8e1bb2

Now, give it's a fucking long shot to get from one of that International contracts to the AFL, it's a risky choice for him even if the average AFL contact is worth far more than the average rugby one.

For Hawthorn it makes sense, they've been bloody good for a long time and they haven't got any love from the draft because of it. This is a relatively cheap risk.

If he looks like an athlete, an Aussie Super rugby team should sign him to an EPS contract once he gets his 3 year residency.

 

[stoff]

There are plenty of these guys floating around the edges of AFL lists. He does seem to have a higher rugby pedigree, although I'm suspecting he's a Gaelic man first if he's gone this way


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[amirite]

I'm suspecting he's a Gaelic man first if he's gone this way


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Yeah, but a lot of successful rugby players from Ireland are.

 

[Micheal]

With Ben Barba dumped is he worth a look in? Or is his EBC tatt too much an indictment considering his past?

As an aside - whilst professional sportsman shouldn't be doing coke, if you made half the adult population (atleast ages 20-35ish) in the white-collar / blue-collar world do a drug test we wouldn't have a workforce.

 

[Braveheart81]

It's just a subtle change in reporting.

Previously it was all about Ben Barba bagging a try.

Now it's all about Ben Barba trying a bag.

 

[amirite]

With Ben Barba dumped is he worth a look in? Or is his EBC tatt too much an indictment considering his past?

As an aside - whilst professional sportsman shouldn't be doing coke, if you made half the adult population (atleast ages 20-35ish) in the white-collar / blue-collar world do a drug test we wouldn't have a workforce.

If he's affordable, have a look.

As long as his behaviour/form is good at training, on the field, and around the media, and he promises to never get caught do drugs again.

 

[Scoey]

As an aside - whilst professional sportsman shouldn't be doing coke, if you made half the adult population (atleast ages 20-35ish) in the white-collar / blue-collar world do a drug test we wouldn't have a workforce.

A lot of workers are routinely drug and alcohol tested as part of their contract of employment. If that's part of your deal and you sign on then there's nothing wrong with it. You make it almost sound like it's an injustice that he was tested!

 

[I like to watch]

if he was tested 2 days after the GF then that's crap.
it's like being tested by your boss on boxing day, when you are off till end of January.

 

[Scoey]

I don't know what Christmas looks like in your house but I don't usually do cocaine at mine.

But seriously, if his deal says no drugs and that he can get tested at any time then he's a goose and gets what he deserves. If it specifies when and where he can be tested and excludes the few days after the GF then yep, crap. I doubt it's the latter though.

 

[p.Tah]

I don't know what Christmas looks like in your house but I don't usually do cocaine at mine.

white Christmas?

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

With Ben Barba dumped is he worth a look in? Or is his EBC tatt too much an indictment considering his past?

As an aside - whilst professional sportsman shouldn't be doing coke, if you made half the adult population (atleast ages 20-35ish) in the white-collar / blue-collar world do a drug test we wouldn't have a workforce.

I don't know anybody in my age range (the 20-35 range) that is anything like this. Scrap that. I know a couple. Both 20 years old though. Unwmployed with too much access to their parents wallets.

 

[Micheal]

A lot of workers are routinely drug and alcohol tested as part of their contract of employment. If that's part of your deal and you sign on then there's nothing wrong with it. You make it almost sound like it's an injustice that he was tested!

Perhaps it came off like that but I didn't mean it to be.

As a young person myself I just often wonder when society / regulations will catch up with the pretty rampant drug-use culture we have here in Australia (I read a study that suggested we lead the world in recreational drug use per capita - funny as drugs, in real terms (e.g. purchasing power), are ridiculously expensive here).

I don't touch the stuff myself but I went to a pretty mainstream / popular camping festival recently with dogs and car searches on entry. Absolute waste of tax payers money as it prevents no one from trying and you couldn't walk 100 m throughout the campsite without seeing the ground littered with nangs / all sorts of paraphernalia. The longest line the entire time was the line to get yourself drug tested (e.g. roadside RDT but at the gate) on the way out.

I still think footy players shouldn't be pissing it up and doing whatever else on the weekends as they have a responsibility / obligation to be in peak physical performance and others would kill for the opportunities / pay they receive.

If anything, cocaines gonna reduce his performance if he's doing it around the clock (or even occasionally) and I'm not sure if recreational drugs should be in the same category as something like performance enhancers.

I thought Hunt was hard done by (there was a league fella who got done for steroid supply as well when all he did was introduce people to one another) and this made me remember that.

Anyway, just an observation. Many arguments to be made either way.

Edit: also for anyone confused about the EBC comment - Barba has it tattoo'd on his stomach. It stands for "Epic Bender Crew". Reflects a pretty fucking stupid / juvenile mindset no matter what your occupation and to get it done as a professional sportsman screams irresponsibility.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

With Ben Barba dumped is he worth a look in? Or is his EBC tatt too much an indictment considering his past

If this were his first offence, maybe. But it's not, so no. Even the league freaks I work with were unanimous that his contract should be torn up, even before it was announced that he'd been granted a release. For his sake I really hope he gets his life sorted out but there's no way rugby should be taking the risk that he won't, just imagine the shit storm if ARU & whichever Super Rugby outfit signed him & he returned a third positive for coke and/ or got done for DV again: Loig media would fuckin' lap it up. Just not worth it IMO.

 

[amirite]

I know there is such thing as functional drug users, it's not even THAT uncommon. Given Barber's good form, and the fact that he hasn't gotten in trouble because of drugs, one can assume he is functioning.

I'm not an advocate for this, as I have a history of mental illness in the family, but one could easily make the case that he hasn't done much 'ethically' wrong.

He's expected to be a role model and his contract reflects this, but the fact a test got him and not his behaviour means maybe what he did was not so bad.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

I know there is such thing as functional drug users, it's not even THAT uncommon. Given Barber's good form, and the fact that he hasn't gotten in trouble because of drugs, one can assume he is functioning.

I'm not an advocate for this, as I have a history of mental illness in the family, but one could easily make the case that he hasn't done much 'ethically' wrong.

He's expected to be a role model and his contract reflects this, but the fact a test got him and not his behaviour means maybe what he did was not so bad.

Peter FitzSimons pretty much concurs:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/spo...snt-deserve-to-be-banned-20161109-gslnv5.html

 

[Scoey]

Meh I think functional users are likely in the extreme minority. It's the non functional ones that cost the rest of society big $$$ which is why it's illegal to use such drugs. So while Barba possibly wasn't hurting anyone, using cocaine is still illegal and with good reason. He deserves what he gets.

 

[amirite]

Meh I think functional users are likely in the extreme minority. It's the non functional ones that cost the rest of society big $$$ which is why it's illegal to use such drugs. So while Barba possibly wasn't hurting anyone, using cocaine is still illegal and with good reason. He deserves what he gets.

Your points are fair, it's illegal for a reason and he deserve a punishment.

A torn up contract and a lack of ability to re-sign is a bit much. It doesn't benefit the league, societies drug issues, or Barba - one of Australia's sadly small number of Indigenous success stories.

 

[TOCC]

Any hope of getting Kalyn Ponga back to rugby union are over, he just signed a 5 year, $3.6million deal which works out at $720'000 a season, more then most of the Wallabies

 

[Antony]

I'm a bit surprised by the prevailing attitude to drugs expressed above, since normally I find this forum to be quite liberal. I'm not sure there's any evidence that a drug like cocaine or marijuana is anywhere near as bad for users or their community as a drug like alcohol or tobacco.

There's a strong moral argument against using drugs because you're knowingly supporting the business model of actual criminals (and ultimately the exploitation and murder of Colombian coca leaf farmers, for instance), but that's born of the illegality of drugs rather than drugs themselves.

And re: the "he signed a contract" idea, there are plenty of occasions in which I think employers use the negotiating imbalance inherent to employment contracts to require unfair conditions. It's obviously a legal defence of the club's actions, but I don't think it makes them fair.

Anyway, that's my $0.02. I think he was pretty hard-done by.

The history of DV, on the other hand, makes me absolutely not want him in rugby.