Here it is
Can't tell write from wrong
October 9, 2005 — 10.00am
Columnists such as Phil Rothfield, Rebecca Wilson and radio's Ray Hadley seem to have an obsession with discrediting me.
Their obsession is boring the pants off everybody.
I think Rothfield and Wilson place agendas and personal grievances above readers' needs for informative, accurate and unbiased reporting.
Rothfield has sledged me for more than a decade. His bitterness towards me has overtaken common sense and accuracy where my name is concerned. He is constantly wrong about me but that doesn't stop him backing up for another go. He has never contacted me to verify a story. He once sent me an abusive email. My email response must have hit the mark because he's never written to me again. These days he's just spitting into the wind. Every time he opens his mouth about me it blows right back in his face.
As for Rebecca Wilson?
Ha, ha, ha. Sorry. I can't even say her name without laughing. She must be trying to emulate Rothfield because her gossip column bears a striking resemblance to his style.
Despite constantly writing about me over the years, she has never had the courage to contact me to verify a story. Her stories about me have been inaccurate, exaggerated, embellished and misrepresentative. As far as I am concerned, it has been a vindictive, deliberate and sustained campaign.
It's all become so boring and her credibility has suffered so much that she must be close to giving it away and allowing someone else to write that gossip column.
And Ray Hadley? He often delivers vindictive attacks on individuals, sometimes targeting their very livelihood. Don't take my word for it. Ask people such as Brian Smith, Paul Vautin, Peter Sterling, John Gibbs and Andrew Voss. He, too, has never had the courage to phone me to verify a story before shooting off his mouth. I wonder why?
Like Rothfield, Hadley is extremely thin-skinned. They dish it out but can't take it.
Recently this troika has targeted my role at the Roosters. They are up in arms that I didn't attend a couple of club functions. So what? What's it got to do with them anyway? By saying I didn't turn up they are suggesting I was expected to attend these occasions but didn't show. That's totally incorrect.
For the record: I've attended less than a handful of club functions in the past six years. I also don't attend Dally M awards, season launches, grand final breakfasts, book launches and cocktail parties. I gave up going to these dos when I retired from coaching six years ago.
They also thought they had a big story when they heard I was invited to talk to Dragons players at a dinner before their final against Wests Tigers. So bloody what? I'm invited to talk to many sporting bodies, teams, clubs, junior leagues, business seminars, individuals and charities. I do as many as I can.
Footballers like to help each other. Rugby league is not like the media where people like Rothfield, Wilson and Hadley attack those who work for rival media organisations just for the sake of it. How childish is that?
www.smh.com.au
Let his savor the taste 
