Pom_81
Kennel Enthusiast
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2010
- Messages
- 3,380
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- 75
Ladies and gentlemen, I present a new low...
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/blakes-broke-and-couch-surfing-20130907-2tc5y.html
Todd Greenberg is a lot of things - smart, bordering on smug, but he is certainly not stupid. If the NRL's new head of football even thought of covering up a case of domestic violence when he was Canterbury Bulldogs boss, he is stuffed. How does the man many refer to as Mr Football hand out penalties to the clubs? What does Greenberg say to North Queensland - a club that has lived with Robert Lui being stood down when he was violent towards his partner - even though the Cowboys and Lui's former club, the Wests Tigers, would try and justify his actions with stories about him being attacked or having his clothes cut up.
That's why the Greenberg situation is as interesting as the Ben Barba one. There is no doubt Greenberg knew for months that News Limited had a photo of a woman with a damaged face. This columnist had at least one lengthy discussion with Greenberg about it. He had not seen it - I still don't know if he saw it before it was published.
A fair question would be if he knew the photo existed, why didn't he report it to NRL chief executive Dave Smith? Was he happy appeasing those with the photo with stories? He'd been described as the best chief executive in the game … he was the man who took the high moral ground when Sonny Bill Williams walked out on Canterbury … he cleaned the Dogs' image up. In the same conversation I had with Greenberg in the grandstand at Belmore, he said he would never cover up an incident. He said he knew he would be sacked if that was the line he took.
He asked Barba's partner Ainslee Currie countless times to tell him if she had been assaulted by Barba. He said she never said that took place. On the day the Dogs announced Barba was stood down, I asked Greenberg if violence was involved in the decision - at that stage family members had already got that message through to the media. It was denied.
I was still sceptical - what sold me on that, was a phone call I received from Currie later that day. She told me Barba had never been violent towards her. At that point I took her on her word - and I didn't think about the financial implications for her and her kids if Barba was stood down, or banned from the game. If you believe Greenberg he took a hard line with Barba - he was the one making sure he didn't stuff up again. There were rumours about run-ins with teammates. This column reported Barba's initial fight at training involving Bulldogs forward Tim Browne - it was dismissed as one of those training things. Even before the season started this column reported Barba and his brother were behaving like gits in Mackay and had an altercation, largely verbal, with former Maroons centre Josh Hannay about Barba being too big for his boots.
And it's in his home town where the problems start. The Dogs will tell you of his upbringing - let's just say he was never taught how to respect women. Which brings me back to the photo - one I was offered, but never given. Those who say the Dogs handled the situation properly will say the photo could be from any time. And given the confidence the Bulldogs are exuding - you would have to think they have a smoking gun in their defence. But the Dogs can be arrogant in the extreme. They still don't accept they were poorly behaved on Mad Monday when they hurled abuse at Nine News reporter Jayne Azzopardi last year. In that instance it's been Des Hasler who has been the stick in the mud, more so than Greenberg. It does reflect an attitude that has long existed at the club and needs to change.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/blakes-broke-and-couch-surfing-20130907-2tc5y.html
Todd Greenberg is a lot of things - smart, bordering on smug, but he is certainly not stupid. If the NRL's new head of football even thought of covering up a case of domestic violence when he was Canterbury Bulldogs boss, he is stuffed. How does the man many refer to as Mr Football hand out penalties to the clubs? What does Greenberg say to North Queensland - a club that has lived with Robert Lui being stood down when he was violent towards his partner - even though the Cowboys and Lui's former club, the Wests Tigers, would try and justify his actions with stories about him being attacked or having his clothes cut up.
That's why the Greenberg situation is as interesting as the Ben Barba one. There is no doubt Greenberg knew for months that News Limited had a photo of a woman with a damaged face. This columnist had at least one lengthy discussion with Greenberg about it. He had not seen it - I still don't know if he saw it before it was published.
A fair question would be if he knew the photo existed, why didn't he report it to NRL chief executive Dave Smith? Was he happy appeasing those with the photo with stories? He'd been described as the best chief executive in the game … he was the man who took the high moral ground when Sonny Bill Williams walked out on Canterbury … he cleaned the Dogs' image up. In the same conversation I had with Greenberg in the grandstand at Belmore, he said he would never cover up an incident. He said he knew he would be sacked if that was the line he took.
He asked Barba's partner Ainslee Currie countless times to tell him if she had been assaulted by Barba. He said she never said that took place. On the day the Dogs announced Barba was stood down, I asked Greenberg if violence was involved in the decision - at that stage family members had already got that message through to the media. It was denied.
I was still sceptical - what sold me on that, was a phone call I received from Currie later that day. She told me Barba had never been violent towards her. At that point I took her on her word - and I didn't think about the financial implications for her and her kids if Barba was stood down, or banned from the game. If you believe Greenberg he took a hard line with Barba - he was the one making sure he didn't stuff up again. There were rumours about run-ins with teammates. This column reported Barba's initial fight at training involving Bulldogs forward Tim Browne - it was dismissed as one of those training things. Even before the season started this column reported Barba and his brother were behaving like gits in Mackay and had an altercation, largely verbal, with former Maroons centre Josh Hannay about Barba being too big for his boots.
And it's in his home town where the problems start. The Dogs will tell you of his upbringing - let's just say he was never taught how to respect women. Which brings me back to the photo - one I was offered, but never given. Those who say the Dogs handled the situation properly will say the photo could be from any time. And given the confidence the Bulldogs are exuding - you would have to think they have a smoking gun in their defence. But the Dogs can be arrogant in the extreme. They still don't accept they were poorly behaved on Mad Monday when they hurled abuse at Nine News reporter Jayne Azzopardi last year. In that instance it's been Des Hasler who has been the stick in the mud, more so than Greenberg. It does reflect an attitude that has long existed at the club and needs to change.
