News Beattie and Greenberg under threat if they mishandle De Belin incident. - UPDATE: P6 JDB Stood Down

[Mr Invisible]

Dragons are playing hard ball and will want to be REALLY careful. NRL grant licenses to clubs and can take those licences away.

Players sign a Code of Conduct when they join the NRL, De Belin has potentially breached that.

It's not a case of law, it's a case of a contract and the conditions the players sign on to.

Play by the rules or have your contrct terminated, it's simple. If he wants to push his luck NRL don't need to give a reason to cancel his contract with the NRL.

 

[Wahesh]

They absolutely can. Players have to sign a Code of Conduct when they join the NRL. Breach that and the NRl have every right to suspend a player.

Playing in the NRL is a right granted by the NRL/ARLC, it's not a given. More players need to understand that.


Neil Breen (reporter)

Right. So on my way home from work today, I'll punch someone in the face. Then while I'm awaiting for court proceedings to finish, I'll be suspended from work on full pay. So I get a free holiday, and my employers are suffering paying me wages while not getting any labor in return

 

[JayBee]

Right. So on my way home from work today, I'll punch someone in the face. Then while I'm awaiting for court proceedings to finish, I'll be suspended from work on full pay. So I get a free holiday, and my employers are suffering paying me wages while not getting any labor in return

That's where the NRL is looking to ratify a fund, where by clubs will be compensated if they have a player stood down on such a basis.

I for one and am happy with the Dragons take on this. If our last CEO had even half the balls of Doust/Johnston (whoever bloody hell the CEO is), we wouldn't be in the shit fight we have been in the last 18 months.

 

[Wahesh]

That's where the NRL is looking to ratify a fund, where by clubs will be compensated if they have a player stood down on such a basis.

I for one and am happy with the Dragons take on this. If our last CEO had even half the balls of Doust/Johnston (whoever bloody hell the CEO is), we wouldn't be in the shit fight we have been in the last 18 months.

I'm also happy with the Dragons take on this. I agree that the NRL needs to take a hard-stance on players, but the law of the land is INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. That should stream-down into the NRL. We all remember what happened when Brett Stewart was stood down by the NRL and was found completely innocent.

 

[Shanked]

i find it odd that the nrl can change how they punish players mid bargening agreement. I would have thought it would be in there

 

[JayBee]

Watching the ARLC presser right now.

Wow. De Belin confirmed stood down.

New term being used "No fault stand down" period.

 

[JayBee]

Stand down for D. Walker TBC in coming days

 

[JayBee]

No guarantee of salary cap benefit for players stood down. You can apply - but nothing specific stated about what they can get.

Still has to go through the auditor

 

[JayBee]

The "benchmark" for being banned is whether the associated crime has a maximum jail time of 11 years + based on NSW legislation.

So basically - Greg Inglis caught drink driving would not have got him stood down, as the maximum for the charge he received is less than 11 years.

Anything less than 11 years - the discretion is left to the CEO of the NRL to decide on the best course of action in terms of punishment

 

[JayBee]

Andrew Webster asked a cracker question - what has changed now? Why are we making a change to the rules now, when the NRL's rule has always been wait for the law process to come to a final decision and the powers at be decide to act on what they felt was appropriate.

"We wanted to see if the existing old rules worked. And they didn't. So we had to make a change to the rules as a result" - Beattie

 

[Shanked]

well, hold on. Weren't brett stewart and SKD cleared of their allegations?

 

[JayBee]

well, hold on. Weren't brett stewart and SKD cleared of their allegations?

Someone questioned whether this has come as a response to that.

Greenberg denied it, but said in those instances, they will have the power to act.

 

[bulldog]

I can see a whole lot of problems with the new policy, not the least of which is players being held to ransom to have unfounded charges dropped with a little hush money, even more disturbing if payoffs are to drop charges when the player is guilty.

You can hold a case up for years with the right strategy, players careers are going to be destroyed in some instances, NRL players are going to be bigger targets than ever before.

I don't want to see League become like the AFL, who used to have a slush money fund to pay off victims, they had to officially ban hush money payments after it became public knowledge.

 

[Legend23]

When is the court date set for ?

 

[Mr Invisible]

Right. So on my way home from work today, I'll punch someone in the face. Then while I'm awaiting for court proceedings to finish, I'll be suspended from work on full pay. So I get a free holiday, and my employers are suffering paying me wages while not getting any labor in return

No, see that's where the NRL differ.

Stood down with full pay (so contract is effectively on hold). If guilty he'll have contract terminated. If not guilty he returns to play.

Employer (Dragons) is at a disadvantage, but yes it would technically be the same at your work (depending on your employment agreement).

 

[Mr Invisible]

I can see a whole lot of problems with the new policy, not the least of which is players being held to ransom to have unfounded charges dropped with a little hush money, even more disturbing if payoffs are to drop charges when the player is guilty.

You can hold a case up for years with the right strategy, players careers are going to be destroyed in some instances, NRL players are going to be bigger targets than ever before.

I don't want to see League become like the AFL, who used to have a slush money fund to pay off victims, they had to officially ban hush money payments after it became public knowledge.

Don't commit crime and you don't have a problem. It'll only be players charged by the police that are subjected to this, and remember that the NRL Integrity Unit are given details about this case that are not publically accessible to anyone yet.

 

[bulldog]

Don't commit crime and you don't have a problem.

It's not that black and white is it? Did Brett Stewart commit a crime? I don't know the %'s of charges vs. convictions for the police on indictable offences - but i'd be surprised if it's not lower than 90%

False allegations have the potential to ruin a career, even more so under the new policy, a couple of friends as "witnesses" and you could get a nice payday, or have an important player suspended.

 

[bricktamland]

Right. So on my way home from work today, I'll punch someone in the face. Then while I'm awaiting for court proceedings to finish, I'll be suspended from work on full pay. So I get a free holiday, and my employers are suffering paying me wages while not getting any labor in return

But your not representing a brand that relies on sponsorship , fans, gate tickets and subscriptions to fund itself?

 

[Scorpio]

At the end of the day, if you were a school teacher and had allegations of sexual misconducted labeled against you by a pupil, you would get stood down until the investigation is over, same with police officers, same with any high profile person whether they are sport stars, tv presenters or actors and many many more other occupations.
I can not see why people are in a fit over him being stood down.. he still gets full pay, trains with the team, but does not play.
The NRL is protecting its brand. It had to do it.

 

[Wahesh]

At the end of the day, if you were a school teacher and had allegations of sexual misconducted labeled against you by a pupil, you would get stood down until the investigation is over, same with police officers, same with any high profile person whether they are sport stars, tv presenters or actors and many many more other occupations.
I can not see why people are in a fit over him being stood down.. he still gets full pay, trains with the team, but does not play.
The NRL is protecting its brand. It had to do it.

The team is at a disadvantage - that's why. Hey if it was happening to a Bulldogs player we'd be doing the same thing.