The timing of all of this makes me very suss...they've waited until Brisbane have picked up Barba and then bang. The only reason I can think of the papers sitting on this photo since May is to ensure Barba would actually sign with Brisbane (these papers are mostly owned by news limited who also own Brisbane), and now they are throwing our club under the bus, when really I don't think we have done all that much wrong. By making the articles all sided towards what we have done wrong, it seems like Barba is getting off without much criticism over this from the NRL public, mainly just our club handling of the matter, when I think we've handled it very well in fact.
Here's my point - we come out in Feb and say we've sacked Barba for domestic violence, his partner then claims she was never the victim of domestic violence...Orr sees it as a cash grab and we get sued for defamation and unfair dismissal. We don't do anything and we get accused of sweeping it under the carpet. We take the 50/50 stance by announcing he has issues and has been stood down and sent to rehab, and we still cop it. I can't see any other way we could have handled this situation.
Looking forward to next year when Kas/Tank/Beast can give him a few nightmares for dragging our club through all this when we have done everything to look after and nurture him and clean up our image.