I had lunch with a very good mate of mine last Thursday, partly as a long overdue catch up and partly because I know he’ll always provide honest truth and a little controversy when prodded about the fortunes of his footy team.
This mate of mine – let’s call him Mick O’Sullivan, to protect a poor bloke who’s already suffered enough this season – is genuine, dyed-in-the-wool, Roosters through and through. He’s so ingrained in the tricolours that he steadfastly refuses to embrace the new-age Sydney Roosters branding, instead just referring to them as “Easts”.
Born and bred in the eastern suburbs, but now living in enemy South Sydney territory (not well-planned, I continually remind him), he can still recall vividly going to watch Kevin Hastings running out on the old Sydney Sports Ground (which is now the site of the Sydney Football Stadium, the Roosters home for the last 20-odd years). Not as close to the club as he has been in recent years, he still claims to know and speak to the right people.
Mick was in good spirits on this sunny Thursday, but became cautious when I told him I wanted to record an interview for a column. Once I promised to pick up the lunch tab though, it didn’t take long for his brutal honesty to come through.
“Disgraceful, embarrassing” was his immediate answer when asked about the Roosters dramas of 2009. “I’m always about people making [and learning from] mistakes in life, but I think the same people have made the same mistakes too many times this year,” he continued, before making his first surprise admission.
“I was more annoyed with Jake Friend than I was with Setaimata Sa this week.”
When pushed further to clarify whether he had less problem with domestic violence (Sa’s alleged indiscretion) than he did with drink-driving (Friend), he quickly added that there is no place in the world for domestic violence, obviously, but that what Friend did was just the height of selfish stupidity.
“If you’re drunk, and you get into a car, and you put other people’s lives at risk, then that shows you have no respect for anyone around you. He could have killed someone. Regardless of himself, what would have happened if he killed someone?”
I wondered if the Roosters’ off-field dramas this year could be directly attributed to anything in particular, such as coaching staff, or declining on-field fortunes, or even both, and he didn’t waste any time in delivering his first bombshell.
“Well, unofficially…”
Now, I’ve listened to the rest of Mick’s comment here several times, and it can be described as explosive or controversial at best, and outright slanderous at worst. There is no way in the world the Roosters or NRL powerbrokers would want to see what he had to say in print, regardless of how true or otherwise it might be. And given that my standard contents insurance probably doesn’t cover being sued for defamation, I’ve decided against quoting him directly.
It is fair to say Mick has no doubt in the world that the younger players don’t appear to be listening to senior players and the coaching staff as they once were or should be. He also thinks the sudden departure of long-serving CEO Brian Canavan late last year has impacted the club’s culture: “he was one of the very few who mentored the younger guys; he got them to think about football, and not about partying.”
“Steve Noyce was brought in for the business, to run the club. Not really to look after players.”
The expectations on Noyce and incoming coach Brian Smith are understandably high. The supporters are expecting similar surgery on the club as Smith performed up in Newcastle. And with the Knights set to play in their first finals series since the departures of Andrew Johns and Danny Buderus, Mick and his supporter mates hold high hopes for a transfer of this successful formula to Bondi Junction.
When I asked if a finals appearance in 2010 was the requirement though, Mick was unusually circumspect. “No way. I think if they can finish anywhere near the top 8 with the current players, and losing the names they will this year… The young players have got talent, but the Roosters have never had someone like Karmichael Hunt who was a star from debut. It’s going to take another few years for these kids to come through, if they make it all. Smith will have to do a similar clean-out like he did for Newcastle, so he’ll need time to turn it around.”
I left the main question I wanted to ask until the end. Since Todd Carney was first dumped by the Canberra Raiders for repeated off-field indiscretions in 2008, and deregistered by the NRL for 2009, the rumour has been around that he would sign, or has already signed for the Roosters for 2010.
“Given his history,” I asked, “do you see a three year deal tipped to be pushing $1 Million as a massive risk for the Roosters? Wouldn’t a one-year deal or even just an incentive contract with hefty match payments be a safer option, for both the club and the NRL?”
Mick, to his credit, sees the risk, but I should have seen his first answer coming. “It is, but we were up against other clubs who wanted him, so we had to go to that length to get him. But if he does one minor thing wrong, he’s out. There are no more chances; he’ll never play NRL again.”
Obviously the NRL agree. After a meeting with Carney and the Roosters late last month, NRL boss David Gallop was presented with a set of character witnesses for Carney’s rehabilitation, and a contract presumably laden with “no-stuff ups” clauses.
Gallop, after the meeting, was quoted as saying “We will review that, but on the face of it and subject to the conditions (of the contract) we will allow him to play next year.”
It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out. Mick and his Rooster-tragic mates have been traditionally hard markers, even on a favourite son like Brad Fittler, so Brian Smith will know he has his work cut out for him. But it does at least appear that they’re willing to give the club time to turn its fortunes around.
Of course how much time that actually is remains to be seen. After all, they’re a notoriously fickle lot, those Rooster Boosters…
i think a lot of us are feeling the same way....
This mate of mine – let’s call him Mick O’Sullivan, to protect a poor bloke who’s already suffered enough this season – is genuine, dyed-in-the-wool, Roosters through and through. He’s so ingrained in the tricolours that he steadfastly refuses to embrace the new-age Sydney Roosters branding, instead just referring to them as “Easts”.
Born and bred in the eastern suburbs, but now living in enemy South Sydney territory (not well-planned, I continually remind him), he can still recall vividly going to watch Kevin Hastings running out on the old Sydney Sports Ground (which is now the site of the Sydney Football Stadium, the Roosters home for the last 20-odd years). Not as close to the club as he has been in recent years, he still claims to know and speak to the right people.
Mick was in good spirits on this sunny Thursday, but became cautious when I told him I wanted to record an interview for a column. Once I promised to pick up the lunch tab though, it didn’t take long for his brutal honesty to come through.
“Disgraceful, embarrassing” was his immediate answer when asked about the Roosters dramas of 2009. “I’m always about people making [and learning from] mistakes in life, but I think the same people have made the same mistakes too many times this year,” he continued, before making his first surprise admission.
“I was more annoyed with Jake Friend than I was with Setaimata Sa this week.”
When pushed further to clarify whether he had less problem with domestic violence (Sa’s alleged indiscretion) than he did with drink-driving (Friend), he quickly added that there is no place in the world for domestic violence, obviously, but that what Friend did was just the height of selfish stupidity.
“If you’re drunk, and you get into a car, and you put other people’s lives at risk, then that shows you have no respect for anyone around you. He could have killed someone. Regardless of himself, what would have happened if he killed someone?”
I wondered if the Roosters’ off-field dramas this year could be directly attributed to anything in particular, such as coaching staff, or declining on-field fortunes, or even both, and he didn’t waste any time in delivering his first bombshell.
“Well, unofficially…”
Now, I’ve listened to the rest of Mick’s comment here several times, and it can be described as explosive or controversial at best, and outright slanderous at worst. There is no way in the world the Roosters or NRL powerbrokers would want to see what he had to say in print, regardless of how true or otherwise it might be. And given that my standard contents insurance probably doesn’t cover being sued for defamation, I’ve decided against quoting him directly.
It is fair to say Mick has no doubt in the world that the younger players don’t appear to be listening to senior players and the coaching staff as they once were or should be. He also thinks the sudden departure of long-serving CEO Brian Canavan late last year has impacted the club’s culture: “he was one of the very few who mentored the younger guys; he got them to think about football, and not about partying.”
“Steve Noyce was brought in for the business, to run the club. Not really to look after players.”
The expectations on Noyce and incoming coach Brian Smith are understandably high. The supporters are expecting similar surgery on the club as Smith performed up in Newcastle. And with the Knights set to play in their first finals series since the departures of Andrew Johns and Danny Buderus, Mick and his supporter mates hold high hopes for a transfer of this successful formula to Bondi Junction.
When I asked if a finals appearance in 2010 was the requirement though, Mick was unusually circumspect. “No way. I think if they can finish anywhere near the top 8 with the current players, and losing the names they will this year… The young players have got talent, but the Roosters have never had someone like Karmichael Hunt who was a star from debut. It’s going to take another few years for these kids to come through, if they make it all. Smith will have to do a similar clean-out like he did for Newcastle, so he’ll need time to turn it around.”
I left the main question I wanted to ask until the end. Since Todd Carney was first dumped by the Canberra Raiders for repeated off-field indiscretions in 2008, and deregistered by the NRL for 2009, the rumour has been around that he would sign, or has already signed for the Roosters for 2010.
“Given his history,” I asked, “do you see a three year deal tipped to be pushing $1 Million as a massive risk for the Roosters? Wouldn’t a one-year deal or even just an incentive contract with hefty match payments be a safer option, for both the club and the NRL?”
Mick, to his credit, sees the risk, but I should have seen his first answer coming. “It is, but we were up against other clubs who wanted him, so we had to go to that length to get him. But if he does one minor thing wrong, he’s out. There are no more chances; he’ll never play NRL again.”
Obviously the NRL agree. After a meeting with Carney and the Roosters late last month, NRL boss David Gallop was presented with a set of character witnesses for Carney’s rehabilitation, and a contract presumably laden with “no-stuff ups” clauses.
Gallop, after the meeting, was quoted as saying “We will review that, but on the face of it and subject to the conditions (of the contract) we will allow him to play next year.”
It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out. Mick and his Rooster-tragic mates have been traditionally hard markers, even on a favourite son like Brad Fittler, so Brian Smith will know he has his work cut out for him. But it does at least appear that they’re willing to give the club time to turn its fortunes around.
Of course how much time that actually is remains to be seen. After all, they’re a notoriously fickle lot, those Rooster Boosters…
i think a lot of us are feeling the same way....
Comment