Do we want footballers or role models? - By Mary

The subject of this blog is one of my favourites to discuss with NRL fans. My decision to write on this topic today is even more relevant when you check the NRL section of the paper today.

Today, police are investigating an incident at a Cronulla nightclub involving Blake Ferguson.

This is not the first issue regarding player behaviour which the NRL has had to deal with this year and it raises the question of what we expect from the men who play NRL in Australia.

On the one hand is the view that winning is everything. What flows from this idea is that the men selected to play for each team every week should be judged solely on their ability to play and other factors should not be considered. I think a good example of this comes when we have a look at Josh Dugan.

Earlier this year, Josh Dugan was sacked from his club, the Canberra Raiders, for missing a team recovery session and then posting pictures of himself on his balcony enjoying a Bacardi Breezer and giving the one fingered salute. This is not the first time Josh Dugan has found himself in trouble for his behaviour.

The Raiders took a tough stance and dismissed Dugan. However, instead of the tough stance the Raiders took being applauded and supported by other Clubs, St George Illawarra quickly pounced on the opportunity to sign Dugan, completely undermining any action that the Raiders had taken. By pouncing on this opportunity, the Dragons essentially showed Dugan that his actions could result in a new playing contract. Three months after seeing his contract terminated by the Raiders, Dugan finds himself playing State of Origin.

I think this is completely unacceptable. Players need to be valued on more than just their playing ability. When you think about the gentleman of our game such as Darren Lockyer, Andrew Ryan, Nathan Hindmarsh, Luke Lewis, Hazem el Masri and countless others, the contibution they have made to their Clubs and the community in general is taken into account when considering how valuable they are to an NRL side.

I love winning as much as the next footy fan - and as a Parramatta fan, I can assure you that I miss that winning feeling, but another reason I am truly proud to call the Eels my team is because I truly believe they are a group of genuine nice guys.

Obviously this is the point in my blog where my bias towards Parramatta shows - but this pride in a club can be felt toward a few clubs in the NRL.

The Parramatta Eels, throughout my years as a supporter, have always been a team which on the whole have promoted Rugby League in a positive manner and been ambassadors for the game which I truly love. Men that come to mind instantly are champions like Nathan Hindmarsh. He was and still is idolised by children, Parramatta supporters and by NRL supporters in general. He is the type of man that NRL should be built around and I was always beyond proud that he played for my team.

The NRL clearly has a little bit of an image problem and I think it is because we haven't taken a tougher stance on player behaviour.

While I might recognise the value of having a guy like Nathan Hindmarsh as a role model the 6 year olds idolising Benji and Jarryd aren't so interested. Kids love talent, they love sporting ability and they love razzle dazzle (especially little boys). Little girls also like razzle dazzle, but they also like good looking men. Kids want to be like Jarryd - they don't want to be like Hindy, making 200 tackles a game.

And unfortunately here is the problem - these young men who often have a tremendous amount of money thrown at them at a very young age, make mistakes and sometimes very big ones. And unfortunately it opften brings the game into disrepute and tarnishes the 'glowing superstar' perception that a lot of little ones have of these players.

So my question for today is - NRL, when are we going to get serious about player behaviour?

I'll definitely be blogging some more about this in the coming weeks.

Until next time,

Love,

@LadiesWhoLeague