John Grant gets out of a car on the way to a CEO's meeting. Source: Gregg Porteous / DailyTelegraph
IF anybody finds ARLC commissioner John Grant, can they tell him to give me a call?
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Grant found my NRL360 co-host Ben Ikin on Thursday and told him he was less than happy with my questioning of NRL boss Dave Smith on Wednesday night's show, and at my slings and arrows at then Canterbury CEO Todd Greenberg's handling of what we know as The Barba Affair.
"Why don't you ring him?" Ikin said, drawn into a tiff that was none of his doing.
"No, you tell him," said the commissioner. Seriously? This is what the game has become? The NRL still don't get it.
Let me say this: In the week since the NRL cleared Greenberg and the Bulldogs of any wrongdoing I learned more about what happened than I did in the seven months before. And, so, let me say that from my point of view the Bulldogs' handling of the situation, under the circumstances, appears entirely correct.
From what I've been told, they could not have done more for Barba or his partner Ainslee Currie given all considerations.
And Grant and some of his cohorts can't seem to see that it has moved beyond this, and something greater is at stake.
The problem is Greenberg's press conference, for which he initially received and accepted so much praise. He was asked directly if Barba was stood down for domestic violence. The first word out of his mouth was: "No."
He told us Barba was stood down for gambling and alcohol issues, when we now know they were the lesser part of a major breakdown. Some would say that was not just shielding the truth but deliberately misleading. Why can't an educated, successful man like Grant understand this?
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Maybe he won't call because he doesn't want to be asked a couple of questions about the independent inquiry and the commission's eagerness to move on. Should Greenberg have revealed the depth of Barba's problems that day? No. That is no longer the issue.
So, instead of being deliberately misleading, what should Greenberg have said? I think he should have said Barba's problems were serious and he would not discuss details. And once rumours of an alleged domestic assault spread, journalists had every right to ask questions.
Why? Not to embarrass Barba or his family but to ensure the clubs and the league are acting truthfully and with integrity, because they hadn't been told the truth. Of course, the Barba case is hardly the only incident this season that should worry fans.
Just this week the Roosters were linked to an organised crime figure in relation to the drugs scandal. Don't fans deserve to know the game is doing everything to ensure organised crime doesn't infiltrate the game?
The drug scandal itself has dogged the game all year.
Don't we deserve to know everything is being done to eradicate it from our game, rather than just say nothing and risk the saga being smothered to avoid headlines?
Somewhere along the line the blind trust that the game will always do what's right for us, the fans, has been broken.
The Greenberg press conference was merely an example but, instead of addressing that, and the fact it is now even more important given Greenberg's hiring as the NRL head of football, it appears that, right up to the commissioner, they're still trying to harangue anyone that dares question their version.
Give me a call, John. I know you've got the number.
***
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THE genius of Wayne Bennett is in a Newcastle coffee shop. There sits Willie Mason and any number of young Newcastle players, the conversation lighter than the espressos they drink.
When Bennett signed Mason last year, after Wests Tigers deemed him too much trouble, some wondered whether the zen-like influence of Bennett would prevail.
Then Bennett wandered along one day early on and asked Mason if he could put his wing over a few of the younger players in the squad.
Get together for a coffee with them, he said. So the coffee club was born, and several days a week the players get together to shoot the breeze and laugh, Willie most often holding court.
It helped feed a spirit within the team that few clubs reach, and drives them into tonight's grand final qualifier.
The coffee club was never intended to keep the young players on the straight and narrow. It was for Mason, and has worked a treat.
***
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IS one of USA's greatest sporting moments not one of Australia's great sporting moments?
As we all know now, when Team USA came from 8-1 down to take the America's Cup 9-8 it was skippered by Australian Jimmy Spithill, who not only has a great surname but had the able support of three other Aussies on board.
It was the largest contingent of one nation aboard. And the fact that Australians dominated the crew has some suggesting that Australia can take some ownership of the remarkable win, which will become particularly interesting when the nominations for the big sports awards are drawn up.
Should Spithill and his fellow Aussies be there? When the famous victory was covered on ESPN's Sportscenter there was no mention of the Australian influence. It was U-S-A, all the way!
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But then the Yanks have always been insular. For those arguing it is an Australian moment, though, let me ask what the difference is between Spithill, employed to skipper the Team USA boat, and Aussie swim coaches Ken Wood and Denis Cotterell, who both were paid to train Chinese swimmers at recent Olympics?
Both were widely criticised for taking those jobs, "selling our secret" it was portrayed, and based on the improvements in China's swim team could have mounted a reasonable dossier for coach of the year honours. Of course, it was never considered.
Aussie David Saker is another. Saker coached England's bowlers during the recent Ashes series, when they dismantled Australia's top order.
Before the London Olympics there was substantial moaning about the Aussie brain drain to England as a multitude of Australian coaches took up positions beside the pool, at the velodrome, at the regatta, helping Great Britain to its most successful Games ever.
No mention of what a wonderful job they did.
***
A GOOD WEEK FOR
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SANDOR Earl presented as wholly credible in his interview with Karl Stefanovic, and, I believe, presented a side to the drugs controversy we had been yet to see. The soon-to-be-banned winger showed how an honest interview can actually be far more beneficial to public perception, unlike those firing barbs and hiding behind their lawyers at the moment.
A ROUGH WEEK FOR
TEAM New Zealand consigned itself to infamy when it dropped its marbles in San Francisco. This will never be forgot.
DON'T MISS
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SLAMMIN' Sam premieres on Fox Sports 1 next Friday (7pm), but NRL players don't need that to know Sam Burgess is comfortable in front of the camera. When Stave Matai dropped brother George at Brookvale Oval earlier this year, the elder Burgess rushed in with a protective air. Glenn Stewart saw it differently. "That's right Sam, while the cameras are on," he said.
HERE'S HOPING
HAWTHORN have been great underachievers in recent years. Some label them the dirtiest word in sport ... chokers. Today's grand final won't prove anyone wrong, but a poor result will have many convinced they're right.
CHILL PILLS
Wayne Bennett's inability to give an "ironclad" guarantee he will be in Newcastle next year is an example of his cool work. Suddenly, a whole lot of clubs are reassessing their coaching plans, exactly as Bennett intended.
ANGRY PILLS
Jake White tossed his toys out of the bassinet after missing the Wallabies coaching job. White is talented, successful, all of the above, but does he really bring anything that can't be found in Australia?
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