In light of Melbourne's systematic cheating over the last 5 years, I wonder what implications this has for former Melbourne players during that era such as Steve Turner. Some ramifications for the Bulldogs might include:
- have we paid overs for this guy based on his shambolic resume and shambolic achievements whilst at the storm? Bear in mind that Turner benefited greatly from having all those great players around. He was hardly a key player in that side, but just being part of a great side like that would have inflated his value on the market.
- We know that the culture at the Storm was strong. This has obviously rubbed off on Steve. But we now know that this culture of success begot arrogance and a sense of invincibility - a sense of being above the law. Success at all costs, no matter what the rules are. Do we really want any part of that culture at our club?
- Obviously further details of the saga will be revealed. But a key question is: to what extent were the players aware of the rort? Were guys accepting cash in "brown paper bags"? It would be hard for players not to be aware of possible misconduct if this were the case. If so, did Turner take such payments? Now, there is no indication that players had any knowledge at this stage. And I don't think that the players would have known about the full scope of the deception. But surely players taking payments from dubious sources would have had to know something was wrong.
The simple fact of the matter is that this disgraceful incident has tarnished all Storm players during that period. Like it or not, we bought a bloke who we thought was a two-time premiership winner. His contract was probably inflated based on his bargaining position that he had won two premierships and three minor premierships. That turned out to be a false premise. And, quite frankly, I'm not very happy about it. It's money that would give us more room under the cap.
- have we paid overs for this guy based on his shambolic resume and shambolic achievements whilst at the storm? Bear in mind that Turner benefited greatly from having all those great players around. He was hardly a key player in that side, but just being part of a great side like that would have inflated his value on the market.
- We know that the culture at the Storm was strong. This has obviously rubbed off on Steve. But we now know that this culture of success begot arrogance and a sense of invincibility - a sense of being above the law. Success at all costs, no matter what the rules are. Do we really want any part of that culture at our club?
- Obviously further details of the saga will be revealed. But a key question is: to what extent were the players aware of the rort? Were guys accepting cash in "brown paper bags"? It would be hard for players not to be aware of possible misconduct if this were the case. If so, did Turner take such payments? Now, there is no indication that players had any knowledge at this stage. And I don't think that the players would have known about the full scope of the deception. But surely players taking payments from dubious sources would have had to know something was wrong.
The simple fact of the matter is that this disgraceful incident has tarnished all Storm players during that period. Like it or not, we bought a bloke who we thought was a two-time premiership winner. His contract was probably inflated based on his bargaining position that he had won two premierships and three minor premierships. That turned out to be a false premise. And, quite frankly, I'm not very happy about it. It's money that would give us more room under the cap.
