News Jackson Topine takes Bulldogs to court

[Psycho Doggie]

True but wondering how they arrived at that determination in the legal sense of the charge?....kept back, with the other players, for an extra 4-10 minutes of wrestling (as widely stated)?

Can see his case being pulled apart and shredded by a good legal team if we are defending this accusation made against the club. Court case could go on for months and months before it is completed.

How can a person be deprived of their liberty in a football club environment? Below is the ruling regarding care facilities but...

"If the person has freely chosen and consented to their situation, then they have not given up any of their freedom. A deprivation of liberty only happens when someone lacks the ability to decide for themselves (known as 'mental capacity') where they will live and what care they will receive.3 Sept 2021"

For one thing it is just one of a bunch of accusations. Assault, battery, humiliation, unlawful corporate punishment, resulting in psychiatric injury and physical and mental impairment. It is in the mix either as an effort legally to make the case as complicated and time consuming as possible to defend (very common practice in civil suits), or as an expression of the player's subjective experience. Would that be right or wrong? I'm not going to be foolish enough to enter into that debate, even the judge is going to reach a point where s/he would like to know, and they'll have all of the information and the authority to provide an answer! We have barely anything.

In the broader picture, it will test law interpretation around contracts, work place environments, and professional sports, which is why some people are urging the NRL to get involved. I'd not be surprised if the NRL are keeping very close eyes on this, but also, that they will try to keep it behind closed doors. They can be accused of having a vested interest, and they do. By and large everyone is actually being very very quiet about this, including the player and his legal team. There were rumours about court action last year, it has taken them 6 months or more to build their case. They've put that stuff in there for a reason.

 

[wendog33]

He was definitely a GOOD Reserve Grader, but through chance (or lack thereof), he didn't gain favour and stay in First Grade when given a chance. There have certainly been plodders in Frist Grade over recent years that gave far worse effort than Topine, but he still couldn't break through... for reasons we are likely never to know.

Right or wrong depending on opinions of fans, but another of the contentious issues on TK, and other Bulldog socials, that was argued back and forth, was Okonbour being picked over JT. I for one couldn't understand that selection but as we've seen towards the end of last year, there were issues amongst the team and CC was in the process of sorting it. The reserve team fell in a heap as well. How it all played out at the time, and affected each individual, we don't know.

 

[wendog33]

For one thing it is just one of a bunch of accusations. Assault, battery, humiliation, unlawful corporate punishment, resulting in psychiatric injury and physical and mental impairment. It is in the mix either as an effort legally to make the case as complicated and time consuming as possible to defend (very common practice in civil suits), or as an expression of the player's subjective experience. Would that be right or wrong? I'm not going to be foolish enough to enter into that debate, even the judge is going to reach a point where s/he would like to know, and they'll have all of the information and the authority to provide an answer! We have barely anything.

In the broader picture, it will test law interpretation around contracts, work place environments, and professional sports, which is why some people are urging the NRL to get involved. I'd not be surprised if the NRL are keeping very close eyes on this, but also, that they will try to keep it behind closed doors. They can be accused of having a vested interest, and they do. By and large everyone is actually being very very quiet about this, including the player and his legal team. There were rumours about court action last year, it has taken them 6 months or more to build their case. They've put that stuff in there for a reason.

Yes they've included just about all known "big legal terms" and thrown the kitchen sink at the Club.

Reminder too (as I did my Google research) ....if litigation successful against the Club ...there are possible custodial penalties also in play against those found to be at fault of these accusations: not just monetary compensation

 

[Psycho Doggie]

Yes they've included just about all known "big legal terms" and thrown the kitchen sink at the Club.

Reminder too (as I did my Google research) ....if litigation successful against the Club ...there are possible custodial penalties also in play against those found to be at fault of these accusations: not just monetary compensation

I believe it is a civil case, not criminal.

 

[wendog33]

I believe it is a civil case, not criminal.

Ok. Relieved for that news. Thanks PD.

 

[D0GMATIC]

Well if nothing doing - then why we paying out at all?

I've never said the club was wrong. All I've said is its weak as piss to pile on a kid with mental health problems and to let the courts decide. And whenever someone has pulled some tripe from some 'reliable source' (aka a newspaper) - I've shown that 2 can play that game.

All good - wanna play - lets play. I'm just returning serve right?

Have you ever considered, IF he did have mental fragility, perhaps he should not have pursued a career in high performance sport ?

 

[D0GMATIC]

Gus can work the media too Tapout

Gus plays them like a violin

 

[Psycho Doggie]

Have you ever considered, IF he did have mental fragility, perhaps he should not have pursued a career in high performance sport ?

I'm sure everyone presently experiencing acute mental distress, in any of the many psychological and somatic forms that it can take, wishes that there was something that had told them where their threshold was at the given moment things started to come undone. The thing about psychological thresholds is that we all have them, and they are all different. Our own thresholds change over time, we can be resilient through incredible suffering and then experience a moment where the straw breaks the camels back.

It is a rare person indeed who knows the exact right moment to pull back and take things easy. Over time we can learn more about ourselves and get a bit closer to it. Suggestions to the contrary are unwise, to say the least. There have been many who have scoffed at someone's mental ill health in some way, only to regret it years later when they experience their own.

 

[D0GMATIC]

Can you believe a reserve grader could potentially destroy rugby league. Unbelievable

I can't believe he wants 10 years of what the average NRL first grade player gets paid annually. He played 16 games in 3 years ffs . . . On average, when first grade is playing, he is watching

 

[D0GMATIC]

I'm sure everyone presently experiencing acute mental distress, in any of the many psychological and somatic forms that it can take, wishes that there was something that had told them where their threshold was at the given moment things started to come undone. The thing about psychological thresholds is that we all have them, and they are all different. Our own thresholds change over time, we can be resilient through incredible suffering and then experience a moment where the straw breaks the camels back.

It is a rare person indeed who knows the exact right moment to pull back and take things easy. Over time we can learn more about ourselves and get a bit closer to it. Suggestions to the contrary are unwise, to say the least. There have been many who have scoffed at someone's mental ill health in some way, only to regret it years later when they experience their own.

Valid points. Tell that to the jails full of people who have mental issues that are being held responsible for their actions.

 

[Kaz]

I can't believe he wants 10 years of what the average NRL first grade player gets paid annually. He played 16 games in 3 years ffs . . . On average, when first grade is playing, he is watching

Now he will sue for eye degeneration.

 

[Psycho Doggie]

Valid points. Tell that to the jails full of people who have mental issues that are being held responsible for their actions.

The experience of mental distress is one thing, what a person does with it is another. Sometimes it is really (bad) luck of the draw. It makes a difference who you have around you, most of those in jail come from broken families and don't have good people around them.

And I can tell you for a fact that people in jail do not get any reasonable opportunity to figure out what is going wrong with them. At most they get medicated, which makes them fat, fogged, and even less healthy than they were before. The few that somehow do get a serious shot at therapy have greatly reduced recidivism. Despite the work of some very dedicated and outstanding people, our justice system remains about punishment, not rehabilitation. It won't really change unless enough people want it to.

 

[steeliz]

I can't believe he wants 10 years of what the average NRL first grade player gets paid annually. He played 16 games in 3 years ffs . . . On average, when first grade is playing, he is watching

The average NRL career is about 80 games

 

[D0GMATIC]

Now he will sue for eye degeneration.

He'll be suing the gym next for making the weights too heavy

 

[TwinTurbo]

The average NRL career is about 80 games

40 games

Always a Bulldog

 

[D0GMATIC]

The experience of mental distress is one thing, what a person does with it is another. Sometimes it is really (bad) luck of the draw. It makes a difference who you have around you, most of those in jail come from broken families and don't have good people around them.

And I can tell you for a fact that people in jail do not get any reasonable opportunity to figure out what is going wrong with them. At most they get medicated, which makes them fat, fogged, and even less healthy than they were before. The few that somehow do get a serious shot at therapy have greatly reduced recidivism. Despite the work of some very dedicated and outstanding people, our justice system remains about punishment, not rehabilitation. It won't really change unless enough people want it to.

I'm not disputing the reality or seriousness of mental health problems. My issue is with it being used to leverage money out of the Bulldogs. If he had pre-existing issues that the club were aware of ,that's 1 thing. But from my understanding of the claim, the issues were caused by the incident in question and I'm calling bullshit on that.

 

[Psycho Doggie]

I'm not disputing the reality or seriousness of mental health problems. My issue is with it being used to leverage money out of the Bulldogs. If he had pre-existing issues that the club were aware of ,that's 1 thing. But from my understanding of the claim, the issues were caused by the incident in question and I'm calling bullshit on that.

If this goes where the players legal counsel wants it to go, it will be much bigger than the Bulldogs.

 

[D0GMATIC]

The average NRL career is about 80 games

I think they are talking average player earnings. But its an interesting point nevertheless, So if he could only manage 16 in 3 years at a struggling club, where is he possibly going to play 64 ? Nowhere, his manager tried.

 

[steeliz]

40 games

Always a Bulldog

Actually 75

Education

Education

www.nrl.com

.

 

[InGusWeTrust]

Like I said, if he felt genuinely hard done by he had other avenues to vent before getting to this point. Anyway, no interest in going back and forth to add another 20 pages to this thread. Frankly, your comment on Coffs is disgraceful and tells me everything I need to know. Like I said, clown show.

I’ve seen less aggressive comments re: Coffs from opposition fans! Fucking disgusting and shocking that a so-called dogs fans would say such a thing.

Fact: Several players admitted to having sex with one woman on the same night. Unseemly but apparently something that was/is fairly common in footy circles, see; Sharks in NZ 2002 etc. Charges were dropped (or never brought?) because of lack of evidence. Lead investigator said some damning things against the investigation iirc?