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JOHN HOPOATE BLOCKED BY NRL FROM COACHING MANLY SEA EAGLES JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE SIDE
Former Manly international John Hopoate has been blocked by the NRL from coaching the Sea Eagles' SG Ball Cup team following the outcry that accompanied his appointment for 2016.
Fairfax Media understands Hopoate was advised by the NRL on Tuesday he wouldn't be allowed to coach the under-18 team. The decision is said to have hit the 41-year-old - who has been painted as rugby league's public enemy No.1 - extremely hard.
Sources close to Hopoate said the one-time winger was "devastated".
"He's being judged for things that happened 14 or 15 years ago," said the source who declined to be named. "In the legal system you can't be imprisoned for the same crime twice but that seems to be what's happening to John. He served his time for incidents he really regrets but he's being punished for them again. It's just not fair."
Hopoate's playing career was littered with controversy. He was the NRL's most suspended player, spending 45 weeks on the sideline for transgressions that included sticking his finger up three player's backsides to put them off their game.
After news of his appointment broke, Fairfax Media readers alleged Hopoate behaved poorly at junior football matches by abusing referees.
However, apart from his involvement with the Manly junior representative teams and the fact rugby league Immortal Bob Fulton judged him to be an ideal coach for the club's juniors, Hopoate was recently handpicked by the NRL to participate in a coaching course that would qualify him to coach first grade.
What is understood to have frustrated Hopoate about the NRL's verdict was that prior to the public outcry that accompanied news of his appointment, he'd been coaching the SG Ball squad for the past few months.
"I've always said I'm the crash-test dummy. I've done the dumb things – and [I want to make sure] they don't. I'm big on discipline. I've never had a drama with any of the parents [of the players in his teams] I've coached," Hopoate told Fairfax Media on October 24. "Discipline is one of my things, my players aren't allowed to talk back to the referees because I won't tolerate that. They're taught to cop whatever happens.Two of the boys I coached have become lawyers, none of them have been in trouble. I take no crap."
New Manly coach Trent Barrett praised Hopoate at the club's media launch on Wednesday as a generous and honest person and said he'd shown great promise as a rugby league mentor. "He has a lot to offer as a coach; not a lot of people probably know the real John Hopoate," Barrett said. "He is a very generous person, he is a very honest person and I know he does a terrific job with those kids. He is more than welcome at our football club."
Barrett conceded Hopoate had made mistakes but had also admitted to that. "I think he has put it [controversies] behind him," Barrett said. "The people that have those [bad] opinions of him probably don't know a lot about him.
"Everyone has made mistakes and Hoppa has always put his hands up for that."
http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/ma...nior-representative-side-20151104-gkqwev.html
Former Manly international John Hopoate has been blocked by the NRL from coaching the Sea Eagles' SG Ball Cup team following the outcry that accompanied his appointment for 2016.
Fairfax Media understands Hopoate was advised by the NRL on Tuesday he wouldn't be allowed to coach the under-18 team. The decision is said to have hit the 41-year-old - who has been painted as rugby league's public enemy No.1 - extremely hard.
Sources close to Hopoate said the one-time winger was "devastated".
"He's being judged for things that happened 14 or 15 years ago," said the source who declined to be named. "In the legal system you can't be imprisoned for the same crime twice but that seems to be what's happening to John. He served his time for incidents he really regrets but he's being punished for them again. It's just not fair."
Hopoate's playing career was littered with controversy. He was the NRL's most suspended player, spending 45 weeks on the sideline for transgressions that included sticking his finger up three player's backsides to put them off their game.
After news of his appointment broke, Fairfax Media readers alleged Hopoate behaved poorly at junior football matches by abusing referees.
However, apart from his involvement with the Manly junior representative teams and the fact rugby league Immortal Bob Fulton judged him to be an ideal coach for the club's juniors, Hopoate was recently handpicked by the NRL to participate in a coaching course that would qualify him to coach first grade.
What is understood to have frustrated Hopoate about the NRL's verdict was that prior to the public outcry that accompanied news of his appointment, he'd been coaching the SG Ball squad for the past few months.
"I've always said I'm the crash-test dummy. I've done the dumb things – and [I want to make sure] they don't. I'm big on discipline. I've never had a drama with any of the parents [of the players in his teams] I've coached," Hopoate told Fairfax Media on October 24. "Discipline is one of my things, my players aren't allowed to talk back to the referees because I won't tolerate that. They're taught to cop whatever happens.Two of the boys I coached have become lawyers, none of them have been in trouble. I take no crap."
New Manly coach Trent Barrett praised Hopoate at the club's media launch on Wednesday as a generous and honest person and said he'd shown great promise as a rugby league mentor. "He has a lot to offer as a coach; not a lot of people probably know the real John Hopoate," Barrett said. "He is a very generous person, he is a very honest person and I know he does a terrific job with those kids. He is more than welcome at our football club."
Barrett conceded Hopoate had made mistakes but had also admitted to that. "I think he has put it [controversies] behind him," Barrett said. "The people that have those [bad] opinions of him probably don't know a lot about him.
"Everyone has made mistakes and Hoppa has always put his hands up for that."
http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/ma...nior-representative-side-20151104-gkqwev.html
