Raiders Double Standards - Irwin Sacked
The Canberra Raiders yesterday confirmed new winger Steve Irwin has been sacked following the Police car chase with Todd Carney. The former Brisbane winger leaves the ACT having not played a single game for the Raiders.
How this young guy was thrown out of the club and local star Todd Carney was thrown a lifeline is simply outrageous. Lets consider the circumstances again, Carney was driving the Utility with Irwin as passenger. Carney led Police on a car chase, then left the scene; bolting on foot - Irwin stayed at the scene and assisted Police.
Following the events, the Police charged Todd Carney with various offences and Steve Irwin was totally exonerated by authorities. Fast forward a week - Todd Carney gets a lifeline from his Canberra Raiders club and new boy Steve Irwin gets thrown out on his ear.
This sends a shocking message to the Canberra Raiders playing squad. If you're a top line player, have no fear - you can do what you want. If you're a fringe first grader or average first grader, watch your step! Irwin wasn't even committed of a crime and was booted out of the Raiders club.
The NRL needs to intervene here and severely reprimand the Raiders in the very least. This is an absolute outrage; and the Raiders are lucky they are a low profile club in comparison to some others - as this would be front page news anywhere else in the NRL.
The Raiders tried to soften the blow for Irwin by offering him a role with it's Brisbane feeder club - South Logan Magpies. Accordingly Irwin and his manager refused the ridiculous offer.
I'm Adam Sutcliffe and that's just my opinion.
1 comments:
Couldn't agree more. In fact there was a good piece in Big League last week (I think by Ben Everill) which quoted John Qualye extensively. The basic thrust of Qualye's comments was that no player is bigger than the game and that protecting the image of the NRL (and consequently sponsorship revenue and the junior ranks) is more important than looking after an individual who, albeit probably just naive and stupid, has done the wrong thing by the code.
The NRL needs to come down hard on the Raiders. After all, they're getting a reputation for this kind of thing. How quick were they to sign Neville Costigan?!
Aaron
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