Ethics and fair-play matter to me, a lot! And while a lot of people think like me, I know many others (possibly more) see results before them. Bellamy is the poster-child for the latter.
As soon as you send your team out with deliberate tactics and methods to injure the opponents, you are a deadset POS to me, whether you wear my colours or not.
I guess for me I don't really care. I don't hold athletes up as some sort of role model or beacon of virtue, they're there to entertain me and that's that. There are grubs on every team that go out to get the upperhand on others in an underhanded manner, maybe not as malicious as what you're comparing but where do you draw the line? I don't think coaches actively send their players out to hurt the opposition, and the fact that other clubs were caught and penalized for the crusher, the chicken wing, the prowler, whatever they called that knee into the calf manoeuvre, shows that it's not just limited to one coach or club.
None of this means I don't have ethics or don't believe in sportsmanship on a personal level, but at the end of the day I'm only in it to be entertained, not to sit in my ivory tower and admire the sportsmanship of my side - I don't get anything out of that.
As to the cheating, I know it has not been proven, as many things weren't in that rort scandal. As much as the Bellamy supporters would like to claim we're bias in accusing him, I'd venture the same goes for them if they actually want to stick their head in the sand and ignore everything, such as the head-coach of the club not knowing about what is going on backstage with players contracts.
He was cleared by an independent investigation. You're basically saying you know more than the guys hired to get the bottom, which is silly and you know it. Let's face it, Bellamy could take every test under the sun and pass with flying colours re: the salary cap scandal and there are some people that still wouldn't accept it for various reasons. I'd prefer to believe the official word on it then fabricating something to reaffirm my own opinion.
As I said in my previous post, this doesn't take away from his merit in the way he discovered/developped the likes of Slater, Smith, Cronk Inglis and Folau, as well as his ability to make nuffies look much better than they really are with very well devised game plans.
I don't admire or respect him in the same way I don't admire or respect Joey Johns, yet he has been anointed as an immortal...
At least you can recognize that despite having a dislike for the guy, both of them for that matter.
You can dislike whomever you want, but ignoring the achievements of them purely because of a personal grudge is simply immature.
Also, no one was going to beat Qld when Bellamy was coaching, it wouldn't of mattered who they selected, I don't think that should count against him (especially if you consider that 3 of the big 4 would've been on Qld during that time).
