News Jackson Topine takes Bulldogs to court

[Alan79]

Exactly right. The RLPA proving they are non-entities yet again at the table.

Can include Jackson's player manager as well. Apparently played little to no part in this "harrowing" turn of events of his client.

It's hard to figure out how it could have gotten to this state of affairs.

If they'd planned all along to push for 4 million, the RLPA might've been ignored as much as the club was.

 

[wendog33]

The statements in the article are more indicative of incompetence or an issue between the player and manager.

I can understand the desire to run with a narrative (or presumption) that says "Topine was looking for a new contract with other clubs over the last 6 months", as it makes his case look bad (or perhaps, even worse, as it already looks bad), but we've got to be a bit careful not to impose our own desired narrative (or presumption) on top of what is actually being reported, which is the kind of thing Buzz does.

Note that the article says the agent sent the email to 17 clubs. That means the Bulldogs got the email. That also would be highly incompetent on the agents part, unless he isn't being told about the lawsuit plans.

So far as the agent not being told, it is absolutely believable that the players legal team have told the player to keep quiet about things. The agent would most likely, as someone in the RL world, advise against this move, knowing what kind of repercussions it could have, it is against his interests for this case to go ahead.

The player is listening to the wrong people, most likely the lawyers that have gotten involved.

As can be seen with this screenshot, Gus has reposted 2 articles and one pertains to Jackson being shopped. I guess that means Gus confirms the narrative of the article at least? What a "schemozzle for Jackson's advisors by the looks.

 

[steeliz]

Tyran Smith advertising his business on Twitter.

Now compare this to the article.

System generated emails are the 'right guidance'?

Or is he just lying to protect a client?

 

[jof]

Gus can work the media too Tapout

 

[Suave]

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?

You know the answer to that question dude. It’s to make the bad press/distraction go away and I’m sure it’s something his legal team are counting on as well. It’s not as black and white as a pay out = admission of guilt.

The pile on comment is a cop out. It would be warranted if there was no lawsuit and people were giving him crap for the incident. But you have to be absolutely living with the fairies if you think a guy who is taking on one of the biggest clubs in Sydney for $4 million, with his legal team airing every bit of dirty laundry they can find in the press, wasn’t going to get this attention. He had every opportunity to make his condition known to the NRL and players association and it was crickets. He chose to prioritise his greed and make this ugly and very public, smearing people’s names in the process. But no, please don’t pile on the poor kid because he has mental health issues. We should all reserve judgement on the guy while every other day his team are dragging the club through the mud. Get absolutely f*cked. You make this public, then you have to prepare for the backlash. Simple as that. People have choices in life and no one is holding a gun to his head, his lawyers are ultimately acting on his behalf.

Your takes on this are an absolute clown show.

 

[steeliz]

Well - not really. Using my awesome google lawyer skills, once the statement of claim is lodged, Dogs have 28 days to submit a defence. If they chose not to, then the judge can base his decision on what was presented by the plaintiff. Now whether that decision requires evidence to be provided, well based on whats floating around, think its a big ask to say that what footy clubs do aligns with common whs expectations and I would imagine the Dogs have to defend it. Statement of claim has to provide some statements as to why, what and where. Cannot see a mechanism where the judge can just say nah prior to the Dogs submitting a defence.

Mates a SAS captain. They sign off on the fact they can be basically raped as part of training and discipline. Doubt there is a similar clause in a NRL contract otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation.

But thats my google lawyering - fck knows what goes on in the bizarre world of courts.

P.S.

I wouldn't piss off your mate.

SAS are f@#king psychos

 

[Alan79]

The fact that Burns copped the same punishment says it all. He didn’t sook. He just manned up.

Clubs can’t be expected to know how every player deals mentally with the same punishment.

It would be interesting to see if Topine had previously informed the club of any mental health issues. If he has then he may have a case.

If not then it should be thrown out

If they were undisclosed mental health issues, the club can show case they've displayed their duty of care/compassion in other cases, eg CC escorting Kiks to his dad's funeral and we allowed Thompson to return home to visit his mother when she was in poor health.

 

[wendog33]

If they'd planned all along to push for 4 million, the RLPA might've been ignored as much as the club was.

Well yes more chess moves to consider in this sideshow

Gus has reposted those 2 articles so he must agree with them?

 

[Juniorluke]

Each new day this things gets more embarrassing for Jackson.
it looks like he has taken a lot of bad advice from those around him.

 

[Tassie Devil]

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?

Been really good reading all your views on this mate. Don't agree with them all, but it's been nice seeing people trying to take you on but utterly failing. I certainly learnt it's hard to take down the Doogie ... Haha
.
One thing

When you say "it's weak as piss to pile on a kid with mental health problems" are you referring to the general public doing this or the club?

 

[wendog33]

Each new day this things gets more embarrassing for Jackson.
it looks like he has taken a lot of bad advice from those around him.

His mental health from this point on is on his associate advisors and their collective decisions: not the club.

 

[jof]

Gus has reposted those 2 articles so he must agree with them?

Agree? Of course he does. He would of encouraged Chammas to write it. Nine owns the SMH

 

[wendog33]

Agree? Of course he does. He would of encouraged Chammas to write it. Nine owns the SMH

rhetorical question lol

 

[Tassie Devil]

His mental health from this point on is on his associate advisors and their collective decisions: not the club.

Not entirely true tbh.

If it's proven that his current situation is due to the clubs negligence then his mental health from this point on could very well be on the club.

 

[Reecek89]

You know it’s bad for Jackson when Journos and other clubs are coming to the defence of the bulldogs

 

[Alan79]

Well yes more chess moves to consider in this sideshow

Gus has reposted those 2 articles so he must agree with them?

There's so many ways to read into this. I'm kind of at the point where having read close to 1000 posts going back and forth on this is about enough for me.

There's 3 main standpoints.
1- Cash grab from a player who's given up. Mental health card is being played.

2- Middle ground- Believe that Topine is being lead down a poor path by a money hungry lawyer.

3. Outright sympathy for him.

I'm personally somewhere in between 2-3. Even at the lower levels professional rugby league would have pressures involved that those outside the sport wouldn't understand. It's a macho environment and there's all sorts of barriers for people struggling to communicate it. Both social, mental and perhaps fears that if he said he was struggling his financial future might be on shaky ground.

In my experience people can maintain strength when shit is messing with their heads until the unpredictable moment that they can't any more. For all I know he's endured high stress and inner demons from the time he stepped into a professional environment. And seeing others surpass him etc when his entire life since 15 has been focused on one goal could be devastating. Might be he's had relationship issues in the background, possibly romantic or family, people have mentioned he plays poker. Perhaps he's fucked up and gotten in financial trouble.

There's thousands of potential contributors to mental health issues. I won't be jumping to conclusions that he's faking.

The other part is the greedy lawyer suspicions. This could have hit the point where JT has exhausted his finances, knows that the claim he's lodged has a snowballs chance in hell of succeeding and has grabbed money for the court documents and he'll now be hoping for one last dip in Topines pocket from a quick settlement.

 

[wendog33]

There's so many ways to read into this. I'm kind of at the point where having read close to 1000 posts going back and forth on this is about enough for me.

There's 3 main standpoints.
1- Cash grab from a player who's given up. Mental health card is being played.

2- Middle ground- Believe that Topine is being lead down a poor path by a money hungry lawyer.

3. Outright sympathy for him.

I'm personally somewhere in between 2-3. Even at the lower levels professional rugby league would have pressures involved that those outside the sport wouldn't understand. It's a macho environment and there's all sorts of barriers for people struggling to communicate it. Both social, mental and perhaps fears that if he said he was struggling his financial future might be on shaky ground.

In my experience people can maintain strength when shit is messing with their heads until the unpredictable moment that they can't any more. For all I know he's endured high stress and inner demons from the time he stepped into a professional environment. And seeing others surpass him etc when his entire life since 15 has been focused on one goal could be devastating. Might be he's had relationship issues in the background, possibly romantic or family, people have mentioned he plays poker. Perhaps he's fucked up and gotten in financial trouble.

There's thousands of potential contributors to mental health issues. I won't be jumping to conclusions that he's faking.

The other part is the greedy lawyer suspicions. This could have hit the point where JT has exhausted his finances, knows that the claim he's lodged has a snowballs chance in hell of succeeding and has grabbed money for the court documents and he'll now be hoping for one last dip in Topines pocket from a quick settlement.

The answer is somewhere in there AL79.

Unfortunate for the 2 main parties all round and the periphery parties only adding to the messiness of it all.

Hope it can be resolved without going to Court.

 

[Johnnny2233]

So weeks before he was planning on leaving and obviously not letting any of those clubs aware

That’s a cop out

he would’ve got stood down immediately anyway even if he went to another club

His career is over done he f himself hard on this no nrl club will pick him up.

seriously like they said culture change if you don’t like it leave plain and simple.

Now the culture change has happened and the players love playing together they train hard listen and learn.

they all know what’s expected and I can’t be happier that is is happening

the utility players aren’t what people say they are 1st graders it’s just great pick up for us as so many players can fill in if there is hia or so forth

 

[Tassie Devil]

There's so many ways to read into this. I'm kind of at the point where having read close to 1000 posts going back and forth on this is about enough for me.

There's 3 main standpoints.
1- Cash grab from a player who's given up. Mental health card is being played.

2- Middle ground- Believe that Topine is being lead down a poor path by a money hungry lawyer.

3. Outright sympathy for him.

I'm personally somewhere in between 2-3. Even at the lower levels professional rugby league would have pressures involved that those outside the sport wouldn't understand. It's a macho environment and there's all sorts of barriers for people struggling to communicate it. Both social, mental and perhaps fears that if he said he was struggling his financial future might be on shaky ground.

In my experience people can maintain strength when shit is messing with their heads until the unpredictable moment that they can't any more. For all I know he's endured high stress and inner demons from the time he stepped into a professional environment. And seeing others surpass him etc when his entire life since 15 has been focused on one goal could be devastating. Might be he's had relationship issues in the background, possibly romantic or family, people have mentioned he plays poker. Perhaps he's fucked up and gotten in financial trouble.

There's thousands of potential contributors to mental health issues. I won't be jumping to conclusions that he's faking.

The other part is the greedy lawyer suspicions. This could have hit the point where JT has exhausted his finances, knows that the claim he's lodged has a snowballs chance in hell of succeeding and has grabbed money for the court documents and he'll now be hoping for one last dip in Topines pocket from a quick settlement.

Personally the lawyer is simply doing what a lawyer does. Try to get a result (ultimately cash) for their client. So, I don't understand the anger towards the lawyer in this case.

He / She was approached by Topine/his father and is only doing what their job entails.

People can argue that mental health isn't involved, but I think it clearly is to a point. Now, whether this has been brought on by the Dogs training regime is another thing, but I don't doubt that there are mental health issues there.

People saying that because he continues training shows that he was ok don't understand mental health. Just the same as people saying he should've just said no at that time. That's not how mental health works, especially in that environment.

The real issue here is whether the club supported him before, during and after the incident. That's it.

I don't believe getting him to wrestle can be presented as a problem in this industry. I'm sorry. It just won't fly.

But, if the dogs didn't provide him adequate support before and after then there could be an issue.

However, judging by what the club have said it seems we have given him appropriate support. Plus the fact Topine's lawyers are primarily focusing on the wrestling incident rather than anything else.

I look forward to seeing the conclusion to this tbh.

 

[Johnnny2233]

Personally the lawyer is simply doing what a lawyer does. Try to get a result (ultimately cash) for their client. So, I don't understand the anger towards the lawyer in this case.

He / She was approached by Topine/his father and is only doing what their job entails.

People can argue that mental health isn't involved, but I think it clearly is to a point. Now, whether this has been brought on by the Dogs training regime is another thing, but I don't doubt that there are mental health issues there.

People saying that because he continues training shows that he was ok don't understand mental health. Just the same as people saying he should've just said no at that time. That's not how mental health works, especially in that environment.

The real issue here is whether the club supported him before, during and after the incident. That's it.

I don't believe getting him to wrestle can be presented as a problem in this industry. I'm sorry. It just won't fly.

But, if the dogs didn't provide him adequate support before and after then there could be an issue.

However, judging by what the club have said it seems we have given him appropriate support. Plus the fact Topine's lawyers are primarily focusing on the wrestling incident rather than anything else.

I look forward to seeing the conclusion to this tbh.

I’m thinking he had mental illness and hid it from the club