Fark the Storm

[Peter C]

The white powder brigade cop a one match suspension.

Brett Stewart got 4 matches for being falsely accused of sexual assault and for being supposedly "drunk".

Compare the pair.

Club was fined $100K as well

 

[mickqld]

Why not just hit them across the nose with a rolled up newspaper. F*king predictable soft c*ks at nrl HQ. Don't want to upset the Melb cashcow or we won't sell enough Foxtel subscriptions in Victoria. When will they get it through their heads. Nobody gives a f* about them down there.

 

[Dion Johnson]

A huge statement from the NRL with the mediocre punishment handed down to these players, the NRL administration should be embarrassed with themselves.

With the testing of illicit drugs not being able to be done all year round is a fault that needs looking at, if they want too make a statement going forward the NRL & the RLPA would bring back all year testing.

 

[40 nil]

Cameron Munster is on his last chance with the Storm and will enter a rehabilitation facility on Wednesday with a $100,000 fine hanging over his head if he breaches a 12-month alcohol ban.

Munster, who has relinquished his place in the Storm leadership group, said he had a "difficult relationship with alcohol" and was now taking steps to overcome that.

"Earlier this week I made a decision in consultation with the club’s doctor to seek some help to seek some help with this battle," Munster said.

"Starting tomorrow I will be attending a treatment facility for the next four weeks.

"I want all kids out there to know that my behaviour was not okay. I want to be a better role model and I will strive to do that in the future."

Smith, who was fined $15,000 by the NRL and handed a $50,000 suspended fine by the Storm, also apologised.

"I hate that I have added to the stereotype of players but thank the NRL for understanding that I am just a young man who made a poor mistake by putting myself in the position that I did," Smith said.

"I know I am a good person with a good heart but I know these are just words. I don’t want you to judge me on my words but my actions moving forward from this."

Munster to enter rehab as NRL, Storm issue penalties

Warriors fullback Reece Walsh and Storm trio Cameron Munster, Brandon Smith and Chris Lewis were on Tuesday issued with breach notices following off-field incidents.

www.nrl.com

 

[pt73]

Munster's statement even included the vomit inducing old line of "role model".

You must be joking mate ...........

 

[47MVEagle]

Funny how these blokes only seem to have problems with alcohol & enter rehab (in the offseason no less) when they get caught doing something they've probably been doing for a while.

Kind of takes the focus off the fact they were doing class A drugs.

 

[eagleron]

Shaun lane got fined $20k for pretending to have drugs on him. The ‘penalties’ handed to the scum players are beyond a joke

The new pride of the league

 

[eagleron]

Munster's statement even included the vomit inducing old line of "role model".

You must be joking mate ...........

Written for him as well, he was having trouble reading the script, the entire exercise is bull**** imo

 

[globaleagle]

 

[XV-1]

I wonder what Mitchell Pearce thinks of all this after the fines and suspension he received afta doggie gate vs these Melb penalties?

Pearce fined $125,000 and suspended for eight NRL games

 

[The Right Edge]

Chalk and Cheese comparison between the way the Warriors CEO handled the press during their incident and how the Storm CEO handled his situation. Wouldn't even conjecture on what the white substance was as he didn't know !!! When asked if it was sugar he said he would not like to make assumptions.. does that suggest he has not spoken to the players or they have not told him everything including if there was a white substance at all ??? Talk about taking accountability and moving on.

 

[pt73]

Written for him as well, he was having trouble reading the script, the entire exercise is bull**** imo

Of course it was, he doesn’t know most of those words as they have too many syllables.

 

[Suchislife]

Fellow feathered supporters according to their sheet for brains CEO Rodski they did not know what the white powder was. They can not remember if they used it or not. So lets break this down, they are at a party off their face due to alcohol they have a white powder on the table, munster dancing on a table with a clear satchel of white powder in his hands. So with that evidence it obviously must have been baby powder so that they can slip into their boxer shorts and prevent their balls going every which way. Problem solved, what is wrong with you people a Melb player can not slap some baby powder down under without all this drama. I am sure the NRL being a storm protector will accept this clear and undisputed set of facts.

 

[47MVEagle]

The Storm's PR agent/spin merchant is trying to make it all about the boys making a silly decision while under the influence of alcohol.

They must think people are stupid - we're expected to believe they got p*ssed & spontaneously decided to try cocaine for the first time, then somehow these 3 naive little drunken angels managed to find a coke dealer to get it from LOL.

Never mind the fact that hectic cheese looked like it wasnt his first rodeo with the way he was wielding that credit card & chopping up the charlie.

 

[sheridanstand78]

It is stated that the Drizzle trio were NOT drug tested after the videos of them partying were released.

What the hell is the NRL doing? This so called investigation that the Drizzle did into their players is a complete farce if they did not bother to test them and a one match ban and so called fines is not going to cut it.

Our club got smashed by the NRL in 2009 for a premiership launch and Snake was banned for 4 weeks on allegations that turned out to be a big fat lie!

This is a test of the integrity the NRL MUST make the Drizzle reveal how they investigated this and the Drizzle trio should be further sanctioned. For them to say "We do not remember what we did?" says a hell of a lot and the sanctions are a FARCE!!

 

[Jerry1]

Suspendeded fine.. When a fine is not a fine...

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Suspendeded fine.. When a fine is not a fine...

It’s a ****ing joke isn’t it !!

 

[Rodo]

What an utter farce this investigation has been! What investigation? Ridiculous. Seriously are we to believe that the NRL and Melbourne Storm believed them when they said they don't know what the white powder was? Why haven't the NRL drug tested them?

So the reason Walsh was suspended for longer was because the Police caught him and identified his white powder as coke. He would have been better off if he have been filmed using it on video. Then he could have claimed that he did not know what he was using.

 

[StuBoot]

It is stated that the Drizzle trio were NOT drug tested after the videos of them partying were released.

What the hell is the NRL doing? This so called investigation that the Drizzle did into their players is a complete farce if they did not bother to test them and a one match ban and so called fines is not going to cut it.

Our club got smashed by the NRL in 2009 for a premiership launch and Snake was banned for 4 weeks on allegations that turned out to be a big fat lie!

This is a test of the integrity the NRL MUST make the Drizzle reveal how they investigated this and the Drizzle trio should be further sanctioned. For them to say "We do not remember what we did?" says a hell of a lot and the sanctions are a FARCE!!

The players can’t be tested after the season, part of the RLPA agreement.

We can’t keep going back to what happened to Snake or Pearce - even both of those suspensions were different leadership - different people running the game now.

As much as it’s not a good look for the game or the Storm, they could have come out with the old deny, deny, deny strategy.

They didn’t say they didn’t know what it was, more they couldn’t remember what they were up to.
They were lucky they weren’t filmed doing anything more than just holding the baggies. If they were filmed actually with “it” racked up or having a snort then I’d say the sanctions would be much bigger.

Cops weren’t involved, no one done for possession ( like Walsh) so I’d say the NRL would be somewhat hamstrung in what they could do under their employment agreements.

Munster must’ve been on thin ice already for the Storm to say “one beer in the next 12 months and you’re gone”.

 

[globaleagle]

No Cookies | Daily Telegraph

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www.dailytelegraph.com.au

Paul Kent: Andrew Abdo risks following in Todd Greenberg’s footsteps with light Storm punishments
Andrew Abdo’s handling of the Storm white powder scandal came right from the Todd Greenberg manual — and we know how that ended.

If Andrew Abdo bothers to take a look at the path he treads he will see the light, free-stepping footprints of his predecessor Todd Greenberg.

Greenberg was as fluid as they come as a leader, which some admired.

We all know how it ended, though.

Abdo has led the NRL admirably through these past couple of covid years but Tuesday’s punishments of several players, for matters that might interest police, show that when the NRL finally emerges from the weight of Covid there is still a long way to go.

The street corner tip even before the announcement was that the NRL’s chief executive did not want to punish Melbourne fans by suspending some of the Storm’s better players because, he reasoned, the Storm fans have endured so much already and they deserved to see their stars play.

This was the same frightening logic Greenberg used to lightly punish Parramatta by stripping the Eels of just 12-points for blatantly systematically cheating the salary cap in 2016.

It allowed Parramatta the chance to win the premiership in the very same season they had cheated for advantage — a stain that would never have been overcome — and somehow the outrageousness of that was irrelevant to the then boss.

He thought he was being fair to Parramatta fans.

The tip was that a similarly bizarre rationale was being considered and that is what happened.

Under the NRL’s strange logic, the Warriors might have a right to ask for a please explain.

Among the Integrity Unit sanctions announced, Abdo confirmed that Reece Walsh, the 19-year-old Warriors rookie, was fined $5000 and suspended two games.

Walsh was arrested on the Gold Coast for failing to move on after being ordered to by police and, when later searched at the police station, he was found to have a small bag which he immediately admitted was cocaine.

The following day Reece apologised to Warriors supporters in a Zoom press conference.

Several days later video emerged of Melbourne’s Cameron Munster, Brandon Smith and Chris Lewis in a room with Smith filmed cutting up a white powder on a table in a room full of strangers.

Munster is seen in another video dancing with a bag of white powder in his hand.

The Storm players told the Integrity Unit they have no idea what the powder was. The Integrity Unit, bless them, accepted this.

Their penalty was a one-game suspension — half Walsh received — as well as fines linked to the size of their contracts and an order to undergo an education program.

It took the Storm to finally show Abdo what strong leadership looks like.

On top of the NRL’s sanctions the Storm fined Munster $100,000 (suspended), banned him from drinking for 12 months and have ordered him to rehab, where he starts Wednesday.

The differences in Munster’s treatment was less about finding a punishment publicly acceptable, according to the standards of each office, as it was about trying to drive genuine change.

The Storm know what needs to be done.

They realise Munster is at a vulnerable stage of his career. They realise that unless drastic change happens Munster could be at risk of going the way of so many others who have partied their way out of professional sport.

So the Storm found a punishment to effect change — importantly without adding to the games Munster will miss.

The NRL uncorked one to give the appearance of it.

It shows that what matters in the game as player behaviour becomes an annual event.

The NRL needs a complete overhaul of its disciplinary system to bring it in line with professional standards.

The only punishments that clubs fully respect are those that affect their chances of winning.

The effect is that it will more quickly — and more effectively — force clubs to address their wayward players.

Until the game realises that the strongest way to enforce discipline is by enforcing punishments that can directly impact the team results there will always be a lag between current standards and community commentary.

Instead, the NRL does the exact opposite.

The clubs, headed by their coaches, are best placed to drive the change the NRL wants but are slow for very good reasons.

But until the game enforces a punishment that directly impacts the coach, and the win column, there will always be a lag between expectation and result.

Coaches have always acted out of self interest.

Long before the invention of the Integrity Unit a player urinated under a table at a well-known drinking establishment and security guards swiftly escorted him out.

As whispers began to spread and the League became aware, the coach, known for his discipline, knew immediately what he had to do.

He denied the incident because he needed the player in the side, and then he contacted the establishment in question to see that the security vision was immediately scrubbed.

He knew what the Storm players can now testify to; if it was not on camera, it did not happen.