ManlyBacker
Winging it
<p>NRL chief executive David Gallop has taken a stand on 'unprofessional' behaviour Brett Stewart has been branded "Mr Double Demerit" as the NRL took its toughest-ever stance to save rugby league's battered image after a decade of scandal. Making no apologies for personally intervening to have Stewart stood down for the next four weeks, NRL chief executive David Gallop said the Manly full-back had paid the ultimate price because he had failed in his role as the NRL's face of 2009. A desire to end the annual cycle of drama that precedes each season also played a large part in Stewart becoming only the second player in NRL history forcibly benched by the game's top official.</p><p> "Players shouldn't need to be told that the last weekend before the start of the season is double demerit weekend," Gallop said. "Brett Stewart had a big responsibility to the code and he is now Mr Double Demerit." Gallop's stern action came as research by The Daily Telegraph laid bare the full extent of the NRL's ongoing battle with alcohol-fuelled bad behaviour. In the last 10 years the code has been rocked by at least 80 separate incidents involving booze. </p>
<a href="http://www.silvertails.net/news/Sea-Eagles/gallop-calls-stewart-qmr-double-demeritq.html">Read the full article</a>
<a href="http://www.silvertails.net/news/Sea-Eagles/gallop-calls-stewart-qmr-double-demeritq.html">Read the full article</a>