BY DAN

Morgan Smithies and Hudson Young were in involved in an ‘altercation’.

The details reveal an argument, a fight, a brouhaha, between players in an elevator instigated around a hotel system error. It led to their seeming accidental removal from the hotel, the misidentification of a plastic bat as a weapon, and them being re-assigned to a Panthers player’s room. Eventually sanity prevailed and we all got to hear about the matter. Fawlty Towers couldn’t have written it better.

The media will cover every step of this like all twelve will bring them closer to god. Do you want to hear about where the Raiders will target the Warriors? Or do you want to see me hit some dingers? I’ve seen the headlines, each as curious as the last. They were evicted (because of a system error). A baseball bat was involved (inflatable). They’ve been hauled over the coals (I guess that depends on how uncomfortable you find that). Scream to the heavens that you’ve seen the devil. Whether you have or not is beside the point.

Stick actually called it irresponsible, which is fair enough. It’s certainly injudicious to do anything that attracts the voracious appetite of the bright lights. No one would claim the players are without fault. What if instead of fighting each other in a lift, you simply didn’t? A press conference is reportedly planned, which suggests a seriousness that doesn’t match the facts we have so far. Stick has said he’s already dealt with it. Maybe there’s more, but it seems more likely that this is trying to carve off a pound of flesh because the beast must be sated.

If I’m guessing the outcome is not much. An apology and maybe a fine, for appearances sake. Maybe a one game suspension, which wouldn’t seem warranted as that also matches that given for more serious crimes. Expressions of contrition will come, to be contorted later when a lazy redemption piece is required. It’s all so predictable it’s depressing.

All I can wonder is are we not better than this? I say this to all involved. The players who got into a scuffle, playful or otherwise. One was a purported leader who should know better, who has aspirations of more responsibility. Sure it wasn’t a major issue but the number of times these men find themselves characterised as boys must grate at some point. I wish they were impervious to the temptation to be foolish.

I say it to the media, giving undue attention to this because it’s cheap content. They’ll tell you it needs to be covered. Some will out an outdated or aspirational idea of accountability and transparency. I guess I can’t argue, or absolve these pages from that mess either. Here we are, feeding the beast with foolish piety, just as unproductive and meaningless as the muck rackers.

And I say this about us, the fans and the rugby league community. The media reports this stuff with such bated breath because we all click it. Some click it to hope it’s not as bad as the headline (as this wasn’t). Many click it because they want it to confirm a pre-conceived idea about a player, a team, or a sport. Most of us feel fancy because we’re better than this. Except when we’re not. But we all click just the same.

Maybe I’m projecting a frustration that the Raiders can’t behave. That’s probably part of it too. I am angry we are talking about this. I’m also angry that an incident like this felt so inevitable. An organisation worth literal millions shouldn’t always find itself in messes like this. It’s all so dumb. We’re only weeks since Papalii was first due in court about his incident from the off-season.

Someone set the timer back to “zero”. Here we go again.

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