Sydney Roosters caught up in Brandon Smith drugs investigation

[mightyrooster]

Robbo has spoken and defended Rads + Chad.

While reporting it, Fox's lawyers have stated Rads is 'of no interest to Queensland police'.

The Cheese has been charged, stood down by the NRL and will have his day in court. The club has not been provided with anything else.

Maybe... just maybe... the QLD police should be checking who's leaking info to Fox? I'm sure their integrity unit would have something to say about that.

Smith has not been stood down.
The leak was to the SMH / Nine, but Fox are happy to run with it. But both media arms go out of their way to cover themselves by inserting into their spiels, ‘there is no suggestion Radley has done anything wrong’. This is because they know without it they can be sued for defamation because no charges have actually been laid against him and the whole point of the media coverage is to gain clicks by smearing our club with rumours and innuendo. And if he hasn’t done anything wrong, why do they go out of their way to tell the public all about it?

[Teddy]

I get your point about responsible use, but this isn’t just about private choices. When you’re part of a professional sporting club, every decision reflects on the team and the brand.

• Professional image: Players using drugs, even 'recreationally', makes the whole club look unprofessional. Sponsors, fans, and junior players are watching, and it damages credibility.
• Performance impact: In elite sport, clubs are chasing 1% improvements everywhere including nutrition, sleep, recovery, psychology...etc. Drugs cut the other way, reducing potential/recovery/resilience/consistency (Cheese was plagued with injuries!) and undermining the investment coaches / teammates are making. Why put yourself behind when others are fighting for every small gain?
• Underworld links: To get drugs, you’re inevitably dealing with criminal supply chains. That drags players into contact with people who are the last thing you’d want near a club or its culture. IMO this is what Uncle Nick's jack of... dodgy farks who don't provide any benefits to the club but seem to just lurk around influencing/feeding off their unnecessary relationship with our players.
• Career/personal risk: We’ve already seen multiple players’ careers unravel after a drug scandal. Once your name is tied to it, the reputation damage can be permanent, even if it was just a 'one-off'. Think Finchy, Watts, LOD, Carter, Gordon, SKD's ex, Fergo, Jennings, Lodge, Tobin, Nikorima...etc. Winning a premiership and leaving the club doesn't relieve us of the risk once they're gone either!
• It exposes you: If you're living a double life then you're exposing yourself to the risk of extortion/manipulation from unsavoury figures. Heck one can even end up in a Hayne-like situation by living a double life (i.e. court finds you innocent but you're still faaarked). IMO if you're a celebrity and you're doing stuff that could lead to a front-page article destroying our chances then it's a sign of disrespect towards the club!
• It's banned: if none of the above matters, the fact is that drugs are banned. Many weeks we struggle to put 13 proper 1st graders on the field. If you're suspended (or injured / otherwise unavailable) due to an off-field issue (before we consider bringing other players into it!) then you're letting your team down. Cam Smith was angry about Cheese and co tarnishing the reputation/culture he'd built. IMO Nick is right to have similar expectations.

So yeah, people can do what they want in private life. But when you wear the club’s jersey and take a $$$ salary from us, it’s not just about you!!! It's about protecting your career, your teammates’ work, and the club’s standing.

Got to be up for post of the year well said Izzy agree with all
of this.

[On the Nose]

Those dot points of yours were on Brandon's resume well before we signed him, known by all. Didn't stop us chasing him though, because it's all about winning. Your dot points dont matter and will be forgotten when the next bruised apple becomes available who can improve our roster. Blame management. BTW I think DCE'S signing is a good, safe, bet ,and Robbo, despite his faults is making a pretty good comeback after 4 bad years. Being not too bright doesn't make Brandon a bad person. Just makes him not too bright and we've all been there. Yes we will make the 8, surprisingly.

[HunchoRooster]

Most concerning about Robbo’s press conference wasn’t the off field stuff, rather the fact he said the Robbo holy trinity.
1. We’ve been really clear on how we want to play.
2. We’re ready to play (can also be substituted for “ready to go”)
3. We know what we need to do and we’ve trained really well all week.

Gearing up for a Roosters footy Masterclass with 60% completion.

[B2B]

Most concerning about Robbo’s press conference wasn’t the off field stuff, rather the fact he said the Robbo holy trinity.
1. We’ve been really clear on how we want to play.
2. We’re ready to play (can also be substituted for “ready to go”)
3. We know what we need to do and we’ve trained really well all week.

Gearing up for a Roosters footy Masterclass with 60% completion.

This is roosters footy

[caz]

solid performance from robbo in the presser. played a straight bat about cheesegate, gave bellamy a rap before his 600 and said the focus was to go out there and perform

[The Real King]

Radley sent Smith a text or Smith sent Rads a text, what does that prove? We all exaggerate, joke and bluff in texts.
Text messages don’t prove anything.
It’s like our posts in here, no one actually means what they say about players/coaches..it’s just banter.
The Smith and Rads text message, was it just banter?

Smith has been charged with one count of supply dangerous drugs. OK, that’s different from text message exchanges between 2 larrikins.
We wait for the proof Mr. Police-person, I strongly doubt you have any.

[Bates]

If certain parts of the media have jumped the gun and implicated Chad, Teddy etc with no evidence then those players should initiate legal action. As Robbo mentioned in todays presser, Chad has 4 kids. Imagine having to explain to them why Dad is all over the news. His wife must be heartbroken. Take them to task if there's cause for deformation!

[Chook2]

Gee isn’t Brendon smith a germ to call out his former teammates who backed him during tough times

in actually concerned there will be a few re rads, Angus, Collins and Spencer out to target him next week - which could result in a suspension if we make finals
Im sure he will cop some flack from the chooks fans next Friday as well on and off the field

[Teddy]

Gee isn’t Brendon smith a germ to call out his former teammates who backed him during tough times

in actually concerned there will be a few re rads, Angus, Collins and Spencer out to target him next week - which could result in a suspension if we make finals
Im sure he will cop some flack from the chooks fans next Friday as well on and off the field

Absolute flog loosest lips in the game, he’d give his mother up if it meant clearing a debt or saving himself, fits right in at that shit stain of a club.

[mightyrooster]

Gee isn’t Brendon smith a germ to call out his former teammates who backed him during tough times

in actually concerned there will be a few re rads, Angus, Collins and Spencer out to target him next week - which could result in a suspension if we make finals
Im sure he will cop some flack from the chooks fans next Friday as well on and off the field

I watched that part of 100% footy that night when Chammas implicated Radley and 7 other Roosters players. The same story the whole media is now running with. On that same program they also asked Weedler for his opinion. He threw Smith under the bus by directly bringing up his gambling debts to roosters teammates and how the Roosters bent over backwards to help Smith and to ensure his teammates were paid back ‘a lot of money’ and that the club eventually couldn’t wait to see the back of him. None of that part of the story has made any of the media coverage since, but they’re happy to continue to throw speculation at Radley and the others in the golf party..

[QWERTY]

Those dot points of yours were on Brandon's resume well before we signed him, known by all. Didn't stop us chasing him though, because it's all about winning. Your dot points dont matter and will be forgotten when the next bruised apple becomes available who can improve our roster. Blame management. BTW I think DCE'S signing is a good, safe, bet ,and Robbo, despite his faults is making a pretty good comeback after 4 bad years. Being not too bright doesn't make Brandon a bad person. Just makes him not too bright and we've all been there. Yes we will make the 8, surprisingly.

2021 was a pretty good year given the circumstances. 2022,2023 and 2024 were very underwhelming

[Renman]

I'm getting confused about this fiasco. Has BS actually called out players,eg Rads, Chad or is it through text messages? If Rad was mentioned in the summons, surely this information is private? How was his name put in the public arena? The bullshit statements by media saying that Rads has not been accused of any wrong doing are counter to their actual stories published. I hope they can be sued for defamation by implication (if there is such a thing). There needs to be an investigation !
More importantly, who were the players stupid enough to lend him money?

[mightyrooster]

I'm getting confused about this fiasco. Has BS actually called out players,eg Rads, Chad or is it through text messages? If Rad was mentioned in the summons, surely this information is private? How was his name put in the public arena? The bullshit statements by media saying that Rads has not been accused of any wrong doing are counter to their actual stories published. I hope they can be sued for defamation by implication (if there is such a thing). There needs to be an investigation !
More importantly, who were the players stupid enough to lend him money?

Weedler didn’t name the players that money was owed to. He mad3 it clear the club is not happy with him though. And that’s the point I keep making, the media keeps saying oh by the way there’s no suggestion Radley has done anything wrong, but we’ll just keep regurgitating the info to give the impression he may have and the Roosters culture is dodgy.

[Bates]

Are there any theories on how the Cheese was sprung?

Were the police monitoring the dealers phone?
Who leaked the charge sheet to the press and did they profit from it?