Here we go again. 'Mr Inconsistency' has charged in making the waters so murky that all there is mud. Someone, somewhere please sack him.
Gallop's inconsistency ruffles Roosters
NRL boss David Gallop last night conceded he could have handled Jake Friend's first indiscretion differently - hinting that the Roosters rake was unlucky to be forcibly stood down in March.
Gallop personally intervened to axe Friend for two matches earlier this season after the rookie was apprehended for high-range drink driving and fined $10,000 by his club.
Three months later Friend again finds himself in hot water after being charged with assault over a late-night brawl last weekend that left a woman with facial bruising.
On this occasion, however, Gallop has deferred to the Roosters' handling of the matter as Friend and fellow 19-year-old Sandor Earl - who has also been charged over the same incident - plead their innocence. His varying responses have provoked anger from club officials, particularly those who stood misbehaving players down convinced that Gallop would continue to enforce NRL-sanctioned bans if they didn't toe the tough new line.
But The Daily Telegraph can now reveal that Gallop first expressed misgivings about his decision to suspend Friend just a fortnight after the hooker was outed.
Addressing a meeting of the Player Agents Association on 5 April at the SFS, the league boss was grilled by 20 managers about his hardline stance.
"David admitted that if he had his time over again with Jake, he might have done things differently," one player agent, who did not want to be identified, said.
Just over three weeks later, the contentious issue of Friend's sacking was again raised. The forum on this occasion was the quarterly CEO's meeting at CUA Stadium, Penrith, on 28 April.
Player discipline was the hot agenda item of the day - and while addressing it, Gallop again admitted to second thoughts.
"He said he might have over-reacted on Jake Friend," said one club CEO, who also refused to be identified.
When The Daily Telegraph approached Roosters CEO Steve Noyce for comment about Gallop's remarks, Noyce declined to reveal what was said: "What is spoken about in a CEOs' meeting stays in the meeting - as far as I'm concerned," he said.
But Gallop last night said "hindsight" had told him Friend's first brush with the law could have been treated differently.
"I think I've accepted that in hindsight these are difficult things to handle," he said. "I certainly accept the argument that it could have been dealt with another way.
"I can see that argument, but the game was in a difficult position at the time as well, given the focus that was on player behaviour.
"These things always have to be taken in their context. I would never put forward the idea there can be a black and white rule."
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,25720498-5006066,00.html