That would be the #1 moment for a hack journalist back then...... he would have heard about that, and though " I can write about this crap for weeks without using my brain once " then hit the liquor store to stock up on breakfast supplies, and probably did the same recently.
I've said it before, and will add the current news to it now, the NRL should not stop coaches commenting on refs, they should however issue passes for the media to attend NRL events, like post game conferences, training sessions, and any other media event (or games as anything other than a ticket holding person with a seat in the stands). If you do nothing but search out controversy, or, lacking controversy, make it up...... revoke that persons pass and they are gone. Provide some clear guide lines that don't restrict free press, but if you report things that are not true? bye bye........ do that, and these assholes will pull their heads in pretty quick. What would Rothfield do for a job if he was not allowed into NRL media events after breaching one of the rules?
Would cameras and parabolic microphones have been camped outside the Bulldogs post season celebrations that time just hunting for a story if those reporters where denied access to other NRL events possibly later? I doubt it.
The biggest issue the NRL has in Sydney is the media and they way they search for drama, and they could stop it. What are the media going to do about it? what would be the point of the Telegraph for one if you removed all NRL content?....... nobody would buy that shit for half the year without league in it.