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http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...left-canterbury-bulldogs-20140922-10k8e1.html
There's a perception that Jamal Idris left Canterbury for the money. But the Penrith star remembers it differently.
He remembers how Canterbury hesitated before offering him a new deal in the face of interest from rival clubs.
He remembers the abuse he copped from his own fans, questioning his loyalty during the stalled contract talks. He remembers life as a teenage superstar in Sydney's goldfish bowl. He remembers the racial taunts as he walked down a Parramatta street.
"To be honest with you, the Bulldogs didn't really do much [to keep me], that's what people don't realise," Idris says of his decision to quit the Bulldogs for the Gold Coast Titans in 2011 on a deal believed to be worth $2.5 million over five years.
"I remember having a lot of stories at the time that were wrong, but I tell it straight now, I don't care any more. I had so many people coming up to me or saying, 'Why doesn't Idris stay, what's taking him so long to make up his mind'?
"What was taking so long was that the Bulldogs didn't come to me with an offer yet. But, you know what, people outside didn't know that. They are out there making comments like, 'What's taking him so long, hurry up and stay, why you dragging it out'? I wasn't dragging it out, they didn't come at me with an offer yet."
By the time they did, it was too late. Idris had already convinced himself that life on the Gold Coast would make up the next chapter of his career, albeit it one that was cut short when he left at the end of the 2013 season to join the Panthers, moving back to Sydney for family reasons.
"They took quite a while and I had other clubs coming up to me before them," Idris says.
"By the time they did, I had enough time to think about it and make a decision. It was getting worse and worse. The more they were talking about contracts and that, that's when I started copping it from Bulldogs fans as well and I was like, 'Mate, I still haven't received an offer from the Bulldogs yet'. That was a big part of why I left.
"I was very close and still am close with Todd Greenberg. He's a great bloke and took that club to higher places and I have a lot of respect for him.
"But at the end of the day I had to do what was best for me. The offer was almost the same [as the Titans], but it just took too long. I think they had a few people re-sign as well, but I didn't have any idea what was going on until they came to me at the back end of it all."
Asked if he would have stayed at Belmore had the offer been put on the table from the start of his contract negotiations, Idris says: "Things could have been different." But, he admits, there was another major force driving him away from the Bulldogs that made the Gold Coast so appealing.
Idris says he was the victim of a number of racial taunts from opposition fans away from the field when he burst onto the scene as a teenager at the Bulldogs. He recalls a particular incident that tipped him over the edge, which helped convince him that he needed to move away from the spotlight.
"I was walking down Parra with my girlfriend at the time, I think we might have just lost a game to Parramatta, when this bloke in his car with a couple of his mates yelled things out the window at me," he says.
"He screamed out, 'You black this, that and the rest'. I was like 'what?'. Then he gets out of his car and says 'let's go' in the middle of the street. My missus was there and she's looking at me and I just said, 'Look mate, if you want to throw down, let's go'. I put my hands up and said 'you want to fight, let's f****** fight'.
"He just backed away because he had this general idea that because you're a football player, you can't defend yourself. He just got in his car and took off."
Idris burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old, making his debut in 2008. He went from a nobody to a superstar virtually overnight, and admits he struggled to deal with the attention.
"I always thought this city was where I was going to stay. It's no secret that I rose to stardom really quickly and I was still a child mentally.
"A lot of things don't prepare you for what you're going to cop outside of football. People have this general idea that they have the right to criticise something in your personal life just because they go for another team.
"They have no right whatsoever. Fair enough, you go out and buy your ticket to support your team and barrack against another team, but that doesn't give you the right to go out there on the streets and attack someone's personal life.
"I wasn't ready for that life. I never knew it was going to be like that. Living in the heart of Parramatta, it got to the point when I was annoyed just going to Woolworths or out to dinner.
"Back then, everyone knew I had a massive anger streak and I would have been the first one to put one on someone's chin. I'd never back down. I walked down the street and cop something from someone about my parents or my culture and then they would double take when I rip back into them. They think you can't stick up for yourself and got a rude shock when I did."
One of those players who protected Idris is former teammate and this week's opponent, Bulldogs lock Greg Eastwood. Idris describes Eastwood, who looked out for him in the hope of keeping him on the straight and narrow, as "one of my mum's favourites."
Eastwood remembers: "We were pretty close. I helped him out a little bit when he was maturing into first grade. Him and his mum looked after me because at the time I was down here on my own so I'd go over to their place for a feed.
"He was a young kid, who liked a bit of a drink. It wasn't a huge problem for him, but sometimes he'd come to training after having a few the night before. But you learn to deal with that when you mature and get a bit older. He's got that all under control and it's good to see him coming back into his game and enjoying football."
There's a perception that Jamal Idris left Canterbury for the money. But the Penrith star remembers it differently.
He remembers how Canterbury hesitated before offering him a new deal in the face of interest from rival clubs.
He remembers the abuse he copped from his own fans, questioning his loyalty during the stalled contract talks. He remembers life as a teenage superstar in Sydney's goldfish bowl. He remembers the racial taunts as he walked down a Parramatta street.
"To be honest with you, the Bulldogs didn't really do much [to keep me], that's what people don't realise," Idris says of his decision to quit the Bulldogs for the Gold Coast Titans in 2011 on a deal believed to be worth $2.5 million over five years.
"I remember having a lot of stories at the time that were wrong, but I tell it straight now, I don't care any more. I had so many people coming up to me or saying, 'Why doesn't Idris stay, what's taking him so long to make up his mind'?
"What was taking so long was that the Bulldogs didn't come to me with an offer yet. But, you know what, people outside didn't know that. They are out there making comments like, 'What's taking him so long, hurry up and stay, why you dragging it out'? I wasn't dragging it out, they didn't come at me with an offer yet."
By the time they did, it was too late. Idris had already convinced himself that life on the Gold Coast would make up the next chapter of his career, albeit it one that was cut short when he left at the end of the 2013 season to join the Panthers, moving back to Sydney for family reasons.
"They took quite a while and I had other clubs coming up to me before them," Idris says.
"By the time they did, I had enough time to think about it and make a decision. It was getting worse and worse. The more they were talking about contracts and that, that's when I started copping it from Bulldogs fans as well and I was like, 'Mate, I still haven't received an offer from the Bulldogs yet'. That was a big part of why I left.
"I was very close and still am close with Todd Greenberg. He's a great bloke and took that club to higher places and I have a lot of respect for him.
"But at the end of the day I had to do what was best for me. The offer was almost the same [as the Titans], but it just took too long. I think they had a few people re-sign as well, but I didn't have any idea what was going on until they came to me at the back end of it all."
Asked if he would have stayed at Belmore had the offer been put on the table from the start of his contract negotiations, Idris says: "Things could have been different." But, he admits, there was another major force driving him away from the Bulldogs that made the Gold Coast so appealing.
Idris says he was the victim of a number of racial taunts from opposition fans away from the field when he burst onto the scene as a teenager at the Bulldogs. He recalls a particular incident that tipped him over the edge, which helped convince him that he needed to move away from the spotlight.
"I was walking down Parra with my girlfriend at the time, I think we might have just lost a game to Parramatta, when this bloke in his car with a couple of his mates yelled things out the window at me," he says.
"He screamed out, 'You black this, that and the rest'. I was like 'what?'. Then he gets out of his car and says 'let's go' in the middle of the street. My missus was there and she's looking at me and I just said, 'Look mate, if you want to throw down, let's go'. I put my hands up and said 'you want to fight, let's f****** fight'.
"He just backed away because he had this general idea that because you're a football player, you can't defend yourself. He just got in his car and took off."
Idris burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old, making his debut in 2008. He went from a nobody to a superstar virtually overnight, and admits he struggled to deal with the attention.
"I always thought this city was where I was going to stay. It's no secret that I rose to stardom really quickly and I was still a child mentally.
"A lot of things don't prepare you for what you're going to cop outside of football. People have this general idea that they have the right to criticise something in your personal life just because they go for another team.
"They have no right whatsoever. Fair enough, you go out and buy your ticket to support your team and barrack against another team, but that doesn't give you the right to go out there on the streets and attack someone's personal life.
"I wasn't ready for that life. I never knew it was going to be like that. Living in the heart of Parramatta, it got to the point when I was annoyed just going to Woolworths or out to dinner.
"Back then, everyone knew I had a massive anger streak and I would have been the first one to put one on someone's chin. I'd never back down. I walked down the street and cop something from someone about my parents or my culture and then they would double take when I rip back into them. They think you can't stick up for yourself and got a rude shock when I did."
One of those players who protected Idris is former teammate and this week's opponent, Bulldogs lock Greg Eastwood. Idris describes Eastwood, who looked out for him in the hope of keeping him on the straight and narrow, as "one of my mum's favourites."
Eastwood remembers: "We were pretty close. I helped him out a little bit when he was maturing into first grade. Him and his mum looked after me because at the time I was down here on my own so I'd go over to their place for a feed.
"He was a young kid, who liked a bit of a drink. It wasn't a huge problem for him, but sometimes he'd come to training after having a few the night before. But you learn to deal with that when you mature and get a bit older. He's got that all under control and it's good to see him coming back into his game and enjoying football."
