5 August 2008

What have the Canberra Raiders been up to over the years?

| PBO
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With all the Todd talk going on i was wondering what other events have occurred in the Raiders history.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what they have been up to off the field? I ask this because there always seems to be sportspeople in the paper or on the news for non-sport occurrences.

I just want to get a bit of history (Old players and new) of our local team’s antics off field.

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The Public Watchdog7:58 am 10 Aug 08

I used to work at a bar a few years back and some of the Raiders would frequent it. However, the security staff would not stand for any nonsense. The likes of Brett Mullins and Jason Croker never made it through the front door. The door guy hated football, so he showed them no favours. Mullins tried to get wearing trakky daks and wanted to fight the door guy when refused. Lucky for Mullins he was dragged away. The door guy was a very handy boxer. Croker is just a horrible human being. He was even horrible when I saw him playing golf at Belco one day. Stone cold sober and still an arsehole.

Bradley Clyde was always pleasant. Ricky Stuart was good, but he grew up with us.

I have had a drink with Mal Meninga who was always very pleasant with people. I’m glad he got off that charge outside PJ’s in Tuggies as the idiot provoked him.

By far the best behaved Canberra Raider was Kenny Nagas. He used to come in with his own friends, no Canberra Raiders. I have never seen him drunk, abusive, rude or nasty to anyone. Kenny seemed fairly shy, but always had time for a chat.

He is welcome in my place anyday.

Panhead said :

Whats Big Mal’s story?

Beat the snot out of some prick outside PJ’s tuggers a few years back after being provoked. Like anyone with a public profile he got off. Ole Mal is pretty handy with his fists (just ask Jacko). Had a lot of practise as a kid where he got into blues on a daily basis according to his autobiography. The Meninga family has a dark side. Mal’s brother Bevan is serving a life sentence for a rape-murder on the Sunshine Coast.

Whats Big Mal’s story?

There were a couple of very high profile players who have been known to take a piss while standing at a bar (not on other people though), but that was years ago, so I won’t name them.

Then there was Mal Meninga’s incident at PJ O’Reilly’s a few years back.

Dumbest player I’ve ever met: Jason Croker. Damn good player though.

Jason Croker was busted stealing frozen chickens from the freezer in the back of the Telegraph Hotel in Gunning a few years back. Strange but true.

Growling Ferret11:44 am 06 Aug 08

Could be true – I also believe that parents should not allow the kids to be off-field role models.

The only bloke in the 08 Raiders who should be a role model is Alan Tongue.

I thought we were agreeing they don’t get paid enough?

Growling Ferret11:28 am 06 Aug 08

JB

The base level NRL player is on 45k a year for a 12 month almost full time job. Some are able to supplement their income labouring, others study. The overall average NRL player salary is around $100k – which for a career that is likely to last from age 17-25 before being chopped, isn’t a huge reward.

Yes,the top 5% are on much greater money than that, but you’ll find that they are also more intelligent and burdened with the responsibility of public engagements, being the face of their clubs, media work etc. I don’t begrudge anyone making money out of footy.

In comparision, a teacher/lawyer/medical worker etc can perform their art from the day they complete their degree to age 65 and beyond. And I have seen plenty of legal professionals return from a long liquid lunch at a fancy establishment/corporate box at the football looking very second hand…

But you don’t read about them in tomorrows Daily Tele…

-Brett Mullins fled the scene of a car accident on at least 2 or 3 occasions. He was a real alco grub.

-Jason Croker was smashed over the head with a star-picket outside Lot33 in Kingston a few years back. In the same incident a gun was produced and at some point thrown on the roof. The rumour was that Croker and co had been in Sydney where they did the runner from a brothel without paying their bill, causing the pimps to chase them down. Predictably, the club’s version of events was that good samaritan Croker was merely breaking up a fight. Mmmmkay.

-My dad & I kitted out the raiders in steet gear in about ’87 out at Seiffert before a training session one day. After taking their measurements etc we did a stocktake and realised that there was a few hundred bucks worth of stuff missing. When we asked the trainer about it he encouraged us to go through the players bags. He suggested that we might want to start with Sam Backo & Steve Lidbury’s. He must have been psychic or something.

**Disclaimer: This is an entirely fictional account. Any resemblences to real people is imagined.

They get paid pretty well even in lower grades in Rugby these days, better than the meager crowds warrant IMHO.

But the cat is out of the bag, there’s a huge pot of money and I’d rather see the players who get smashed up get the money than the contemptible fat old men who administrate the games.

And if we don’t pay them well there are other people elsewhere who will, so we better get used to it.

JohnBoy – if practically any worker is injured due to his employment, he or she can get workers’ compensation on some basis. Just about everyone has to have compulsory superannuation, which provides some coverage for those forced to retire. A number of statutory superannuation systems have recognised that some occupations (eg the military) are likely to be engaged in for a shorter time.

It should not be beyond the wit of sport administrators to design a scheme where players who take a battering that either stops them from working or means that they cannot work for a full wage in a long-term occupation are not disadvantaged.

(As an aside, watch the Sydney club rugby on the ABC on Satuday afternoon. There will be some highly paid Wallabies/Waratahs running around, along with some people on modest contracts, some paid training expenses or scholarships and some paid nothing. The representative players are obviously good at what they do, even if they only play a few matches for the club, but so are many of the others. At the levels below, people pay to play).

But when they disappoint as role models they’re not letting me down, they’re letting down the club which tries to market them as role models to sell tickets and merchandise.

It isn’t about whether they should be role models. They already are.

They are widely known, and promoted even more via footy cards and public appearances etc.

They are role models, they are paid well for what they do, and they should all understand that their public behaviour will be reported on.

Disagree,

They take a fearful physical battering for a few short years with horrendous long term health effects just so we can be entertained.

They deserve every penny and more.

But now that we’re paying them as entertainers their off-field antics are part of the package. Up to the clubs to decide what image they’re trying to present.

Growling Ferret – You have made one of the most important points in this debate. Footballers are not role models – they are young men who have a talent for doing difficult things with a football. They get paid amounts that dwarf what is paid to those who do far more useful things (like nurses and teachers) and whose skill levels in their field may be comparable.

There is nothing to stop a footballer from being an academic genius, a respected humanitarian or a gifted writer. But nor is there anything to stop them from being recalcitrants whose would-be teenage years far beyond their 20th birthdays, binge drinkers, or aggressive, arrogant, culturally bereft, manipulative, greedy yobs. Is it not an answer to pay them what they’re really worth, for the skills they display in a limited field of activity, rather than providing them with a lifestyle of idle intoxication? Time was when they were not paid at all, and then they were paid enough to supplement the reasonable wages they were expected to earn from more useful activity. They had to comply with some standards of behaviour because their employers (the ones who engaged them Monday to Friday) would not have tolerated drunken, criminal behaviour.

This is probably unrealistic if we want to retain the best quality players. But, seriously, what standards allow a drunken 21 year old who trains some of the time and works intensely for an hour or so once a week for half a year to be paid ten times as much a nurse or teacher? If people want to go overseas for the money, they will – lawyers and doctors do it, and no-one has suggested salary caps and third party sponsors for legal practices or hospitals.

As a rule: unless you personally saw it happen, or you can point to a news source of it, we’d rather not have it.

b) I’m not entirely sure what the site’s coverage for defamation is?

Just to put your mind at ease Simbo, this would be hearsay at the best.

Growling Ferret8:45 am 06 Aug 08

Footballers should not be role models. They are athletes that make their money due to their physical prowess. Its other people such as Religious heads, Politicians, Judges, Lawyers who should be perfect examples of ‘role models’

Shall we expose them to the same level of scrutiny?

Such as the kiddie fiddlers at Marist and hundreds of other religions schools and churches across Australia over the years.
What about a former Chief Minister rolling her car after a big day at a winery?
Or a current ACT Minister going DUI
Or former MLA’s living in their offices?
Or MLA’s rorting the system by living in Government housing?

Footballers are easy fodder for headlines… nothing more, nothing less…

I went to a local footy team presentation for a club the company I work for sponsors a while ago. Gary Belcher was the guest speaker, they had flown him down from QLD where he now lives I believe.

He could have told many a story on great games etc to a room full of youngish (18-30 year old) amateur footy players, some of them just below NRL level, for inspiration sake etc. But no, in front of the whole room of 100 or so of sponsors, parents and players, every story was about getting on the piss and getting up to mischeif.

And we wonder why football has alcohol problems, even supposed legends of the game encourage it…….

the Ricky Stuart accident that caused the death of a lady is interesting….

But yea current day Raiders are cocks, all the ones I’ve served. Especially Scott Logan and Todd Carney.

Was Mullins from the same hick town as Carney? Seems neither of them can/could conduct themselves well after a few….

simbo said :

Hmm, I’m sure I’ve heard a couple of decent Laurie Daley rumours, but:

a) some of them smacked of wish-fulfilment rather than accuracy,
b) I’m not entirely sure what the site’s coverage for defamation is?

Is it true they used his nose as inspiration for the successful Americas Cup challenge?

Laurie Daley was a dick when he played for the Raiders, and continues to be one.

I remember with fond memories the story of Laurie arriving at Pizza Hut enquiring about a table, only to be informed that they had none available. This was met with the line recently made famous by those reprobates from round Gosford way: do you know who I am!

Yes, but we still can’t magic a table out of thin air.

Growling Ferret8:07 pm 05 Aug 08

Does it really matter?

These guys were not under the same scrutiny as players now. I wonder what politicians got up to in the 80’s/90’s? Malcolm Frasers’ pants for instance…

Hmm, I’m sure I’ve heard a couple of decent Laurie Daley rumours, but:

a) some of them smacked of wish-fulfilment rather than accuracy,
b) I’m not entirely sure what the site’s coverage for defamation is?

The Noa Nadruku incident (his defence on an assault was that he was so drunk he could not have formed the intention to do anything) was a high point. There were rumours about a buck’s night that got way out of hand, but I did not hear any details.

astrojax said :

“back in the day” the club was also very good at persuading prospective complainants to withdraw or not make such complaints, including regarding sexual and other physical assaults. and the stakes (ie wages) weren’t as high, so the media profiles were similarly low key enough for such instances to go under a radar which today would likely see it a gleaming blip…

because we were all out doing the same thing.

exactly who are ‘we’ here, hippy?

but i agree, i have no desire for blokes who might have a talent to kick a ball becoming society’s role models. i blame society.

astrojax, I think what you’re saying is true, but being a Nation that is very sports oriented and damn good at it, it’s hard to keep the limelight away from these people. You don’t really hear kids in the play ground wanting to grow up and be just like Wayne Berry or Kate Carnell?? Probably not the greatest of role models, but I think you know where I’m coming from. Is there really anyone around these days that the younger generation especially would conspire to be like? Not a dig, but I’ve kind of been out of the loop for a bit.

Sam Backo and the late Peter Jackson got into a spot of bother at the Blind Beggars in Belco. I figure it happened before they went to the Broncos, so probably ’88, maybe ’89. If you are dopey enough to get on the wrong side of a first grade footballer then you probably deserve what you get.

On the other hand, Gary Belcher and Big Mal (both wearing dark glasses) visited my school fete and signed plenty of autographs for the kids. That never made the news, it just made a lot of youngsters and their parents happy.

“back in the day” the club was also very good at persuading prospective complainants to withdraw or not make such complaints, including regarding sexual and other physical assaults. and the stakes (ie wages) weren’t as high, so the media profiles were similarly low key enough for such instances to go under a radar which today would likely see it a gleaming blip…

because we were all out doing the same thing. exactly who are ‘we’ here, hippy?

but i agree, i have no desire for blokes who might have a talent to kick a ball becoming society’s role models. i blame society.

grunge_hippy6:03 pm 05 Aug 08

back in the day, when the raiders were good, you used to see the players out all the time. Laurie Daley, Ricky Stewart, Big Mal etc could go out, get plastered and no one would care because we were all out doing the same thing. I think the days like that are long gone with all the talk of ‘binge drinking’ and how these everyday blokes who happen to play football are now ‘role models’.

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