Matt Lodge Discussion

[tommy]

Domestic violence over a week period.

As in he bashed his wife?

 

[Foordy]

If he starts dominating Rothfield or Kent will travel to NY to do a tell-all interview with the victims of his rampage. Drum up a bit of outrage.

That's too much effort for those guys ... they'll just make it up

 

[Jedhead]

It's fucked up what alcohol and drugs can make you do. I've had some pretty removed experiences and have known people to do similar things. Come to and sober up and you have no idea why you did what you did.

Prescription medication and alcohol is a deadly mixture. It killed health ledger and almost killed two rabbittoh players a few years back.

Why education and support is the best course of action for these young men out of their depths

Well said Marty. I'm sure those of us who have had one drink too many have woken up the next day with pangs of regret and sometimes with no knowledge of what actually transpired. "There for the grace of God go I" so to speak. Fact of the matter is if he was born to filthy rich parents we would never have heard about it as their mega-expensive team of 'clean up' lawyers would have had it all swept under the carpet. By contrast, the media flogs the guy who was too poor to buy his way out of a situation. They always want to shit on the working man and the working man's game at every opportunity.
Education is what is lacking indeed. How many times are we reminded of the evils of drink during school? Can anyone honestly say the time spent on drink and drugs education is commensurate with the amount of advertising we are subjected too from alcoholic drink manufacturers and big pharmaceuticals everyday of our lives? The young man was lucky to find himself immersed in one of the best support system in Australia. WB is worth two or three extra players under our salary cap with his genuine show of compassion for the young men under his charge. It gladdens my heart when I hear people like Wendell and big Thorny say that they still ring him for advice. It's a great indicator of the man's man management strategies. We're so lucky to still have him here with us. If anyone is gonna save this guy WB will.

 

[theshed]

Sorry, I don’t agree with Lodge turning a new leaf because of one a wake up call. I’m sure he’s pulled his head in but he sounds like a complete gronk at best, and criminally dangerous at worst.

Drinking and drugs and your peers are all huge influences but at the end of the day we are our actions not our intentions. If in a decades time he has been a model citizen and been a good bloke then you can look back on his past and say it was a rough patch, but I’m not willing to say he’s a new man 2 years after a life of being a dickhead.

I think for society it is a better idea to have this guy off of th streets and playing high level footy with minders invested in his good behaviour, I think it’s better for the victims if he can actually afford to pay them. However, i don’t think he deserves another chance and I don’t think he should be playing for the NRL, and if anybody in charge of either our club or the NRL had a conscience or some balls, he wouldn’t be playing.

So no, I’m not going to sook when “Nsw run media” shits on him, or us for signing him. They’re right. Whether it’s double standards or hypocrisy is irrelevant. This is a blemish on the ethics the broncos have always proclaimed they have as an organisation. I shit on cap cheaters and then Gee quit while we were under investigation, I bag out teams that sign guys like Furgo, and Packer, and then we signed Lodge. I know I’m not the only one, the club has made hypocrites out of any bronco fan who has questioned a team signing a dickhead or criminal but now stands up for Lodge. I won’t make a further hypocrite of myself by being angry at the media for targeting us.

All that being said, I watch footy for entertainment, not for a moral compass, so I don’t really give a **** what kind of humans our players are. I hope you play well, you talented scary asshole.

 

[john1420]

Sorry, I don’t agree with Lodge turning a new leaf because of one a wake up call. I’m sure he’s pulled his head in but he sounds like a complete gronk at best, and criminally dangerous at worst.

Drinking and drugs and your peers are all huge influences but at the end of the day we are our actions not our intentions. If in a decades time he has been a model citizen and been a good bloke then you can look back on his past and say it was a rough patch, but I’m not willing to say he’s a new man 2 years after a life of being a dickhead.

I think for society it is a better idea to have this guy off of th streets and playing high level footy with minders invested in his good behaviour, I think it’s better for the victims if he can actually afford to pay them. However, i don’t think he deserves another chance and I don’t think he should be playing for the NRL, and if anybody in charge of either our club or the NRL had a conscience or some balls, he wouldn’t be playing.

So no, I’m not going to sook when “Nsw run media” shits on him, or us for signing him. They’re right. Whether it’s double standards or hypocrisy is irrelevant. This is a blemish on the ethics the broncos have always proclaimed they have as an organisation. I shit on cap cheaters and then Gee quit while we were under investigation, I bag out teams that sign guys like Furgo, and Packer, and then we signed Lodge. I know I’m not the only one, the club has made hypocrites out of any bronco fan who has questioned a team signing a dickhead or criminal but now stands up for Lodge. I won’t make a further hypocrite of myself by being angry at the media for targeting us.

All that being said, I watch footy for entertainment, not for a moral compass, so I don’t really give a **** what kind of humans our players are. I hope you play well, you talented scary asshole.

Although I agree with giving a bloke another chance, you are of course entitled to think differently

I assume therefore you feel the same about Packer, and others?

 

[Renegade]

All that being said, I watch footy for entertainment, not for a moral compass, so I don’t really give a **** what kind of humans our players are. I hope you play well, you talented scary asshole.

I agree with this - it's not upto me to determine if one should play for our club, that's upto our CEO and the NRL.

If they're willing to give him another chance, great I'll support him and hope he does well. If they revoke that, it's on Lodge for being an idiot.

It's a privilege to play professional sport, not a right.

 

[theshed]

Although I agree with giving a bloke another chance, you are of course entitled to think differently

I assume therefore you feel the same about Packer, and others?

Short answer is yes.


Long answer: It’s easy to see our mates as the nice guys who are good friends while overlooking the shitty things they do to other people. Does it mean you shouldn’t be their friend? That’s not for me to decide. What it does mean though is that your friend is a fuckwit.

Packer may be a great guy 364 days of the year, but 1 day he stomped a mans head after assaulting him to the point he was lying on the floor. Should I hold that against him for the rest of his life? Uh yes. It takes a very long time to prove to society that you aren’t still the kind of guy who is capable of doing that. No way should you be allowed to earn 100s of thousands of dollars at a company that pretends to be moral pillars of th community.

Packer did a real shitty thing and shouldn’t be in the NRL according to the image the NRL itself has chosen to put forward. But again, I watch footy for entertainment, I couldn’t care less who these people are off the field. If anything their scummy behaviour adds to the entertainment.

My point though is that we as bronco fans should accept the shit we deservedly cop by signing this (historically) scummy human.

 

[Porthoz]

I agree with this - it's not upto me to determine if one should play for our club, that's upto our CEO and the NRL.

If they're willing to give him another chance, great I'll support him and hope he does well. If they revoke that, it's on Lodge for being an idiot.

It's a privilege to play professional sport, not a right.

I was and am against guys like Packer, Metcalf or Lodge, to name a few, being allowed to play in the NRL and share the limelight and wealth that comes with it. It SHOULD be a privilege, not a right, or for that matter, a rehab facility for criminals whom happen to be born with talent and/or the physical ability to perform at such a level. That privilege should be permanently forfeited as soon as they commit a serious crime.

The onus is on the NRL to bar them from the competition though, not on the clubs. We all know how worthless the NRL is in almost every facet...

I'd like to think the Broncos have a certain moral standard, but since the NRL will allow it anyway, if the guy is seriously talented, I'd prefer to see him play for us, than against us. Besides, the Broncos, especially with Bennett at the helm, are a club with a track record of being a significant positive influence on players residing on the fringes of society, and for his sake, I hope that is the case with Lodge.

 

[Renegade]

I was and am against guys like Packer, Metcalf or Lodge, to name a few, being allowed to play in the NRL and share the limelight and wealth that comes with it. It SHOULD be a privilege, not a right, or for that matter, a rehab facility for criminals whom happen to be born with talent and/or the physical ability to perform at such a level. That privilege should be permanently forfeited as soon as they commit a serious crime.

The onus is on the NRL to bar them from the competition though, not on the clubs. We all know how worthless the NRL is in almost every facet...

I'd like to think the Broncos have a certain moral standard, but since the NRL will allow it anyway, if the guy is seriously talented, I'd prefer to see him play for us, than against us. Besides, the Broncos, especially with Bennett at the helm, are a club with a track record of being a significant positive influence on players residing on the fringes of society, and for his sake, I hope that is the case with Lodge.

Yeah, I know we've had discussions in the past where we've basically been at the opposite ends of stuff like this but ultimately the club exists to be competitive and (hopefully) win. We'd rather them with us than against us, if the governing body determines them to be suitable to be registered.

It would be nice to be a moral bastion and win, but if you had the choice between being a model club and not making the finals (or winning a premiership) for the next 50 years, or signing a bunch of crims and winning, deep down I reckon we'd all choose the same. Could be wrong...

 

[john1420]

Short answer is yes.


Long answer: It’s easy to see our mates as the nice guys who are good friends while overlooking the shitty things they do to other people. Does it mean you shouldn’t be their friend? That’s not for me to decide. What it does mean though is that your friend is a fuckwit.

Packer may be a great guy 364 days of the year, but 1 day he stomped a mans head after assaulting him to the point he was lying on the floor. Should I hold that against him for the rest of his life? Uh yes. It takes a very long time to prove to society that you aren’t still the kind of guy who is capable of doing that. No way should you be allowed to earn 100s of thousands of dollars at a company that pretends to be moral pillars of th community.

Packer did a real shitty thing and shouldn’t be in the NRL according to the image the NRL itself has chosen to put forward. But again, I watch footy for entertainment, I couldn’t care less who these people are off the field. If anything their scummy behaviour adds to the entertainment.

My point though is that we as bronco fans should accept the shit we deservedly cop by signing this (historically) scummy human.

I have no problem with that shed :)

What I struggle with is us copping shit for signing Lodge, while it's a redemption wank-fest when the Dragons sign Packer, etc

Hypocrisy really bothers me

 

[Thelmus]

I was and am against guys like Packer, Metcalf or Lodge, to name a few, being allowed to play in the NRL and share the limelight and wealth that comes with it. It SHOULD be a privilege, not a right, or for that matter, a rehab facility for criminals whom happen to be born with talent and/or the physical ability to perform at such a level. That privilege should be permanently forfeited as soon as they commit a serious crime.

The onus is on the NRL to bar them from the competition though, not on the clubs. We all know how worthless the NRL is in almost every facet...

I'd like to think the Broncos have a certain moral standard, but since the NRL will allow it anyway, if the guy is seriously talented, I'd prefer to see him play for us, than against us. Besides, the Broncos, especially with Bennett at the helm, are a club with a track record of being a significant positive influence on players residing on the fringes of society, and for his sake, I hope that is the case with Lodge.

I agree. At the end of the day though, we are faced with the fact these people have a marketable commodity in their skills. By all means throw the book at them, if it was them alone, but it's not. As someone said, how many times has the drinking culture left to a disaster for your friends and family.
I was lucky enough to see my brother head down that path, and choose another. Every time he or my father staggered in and created chaos, it showed me the pitfalls.
I was lucky enough to have had a brother like mine. He was a kind, generous, but also fragile person. He used as alcohol as a crutch like so many others, to hide his shyness and insecurity in the blokey world he inhabited. He had a black belt in judo and was a fair boxer, but the drink saw him mugged twice. He picked fights at work Xmas parties and was only by my intervention he didn't lose his job. He didn't die of alcohol but probably would have, given time.
My point is we all know someone like my brother. We can choose to help them, when we can help them, or throw our hands up and say it is too hard. Bennet and others have chosen the first
We also need to rethink a culture that thinks young men getting blind drunk on a regular basis isn't a recipe for disaster.
Lodge has owned his failings, but what about the people who served him the drinks or his so-called "friends" who drank with him.
We make mistakes and live with the consequences.

 

[Porthoz]

I agree. At the end of the day though, we are faced with the fact these people have a marketable commodity in their skills. By all means throw the book at them, if it was them alone, but it's not. As someone said, how many times has the drinking culture left to a disaster for your friends and family.
I was lucky enough to see my brother head down that path, and choose another. Every time he or my father staggered in and created chaos, it showed me the pitfalls.
I was lucky enough to have had a brother like mine. He was a kind, generous, but also fragile person. He used as alcohol as a crutch like so many others, to hide his shyness and insecurity in the blokey world he inhabited. He had a black belt in judo and was a fair boxer, but the drink saw him mugged twice. He picked fights at work Xmas parties and was only by my intervention he didn't lose his job. He didn't die of alcohol but probably would have, given time.
My point is we all know someone like my brother. We can choose to help them, when we can help them, or throw our hands up and say it is too hard. Bennet and others have chosen the first
We also need to rethink a culture that thinks young men getting blind drunk on a regular basis isn't a recipe for disaster.
Lodge has owned his failings, but what about the people who served him the drinks or his so-called "friends" who drank with him.
We make mistakes and live with the consequences.

Mate, I am 100% behind rehabilitation and giving (almost) anyone a fair chance to change their ways a live a decent life. I just believe any highly rewarded public career, be it in sports, media or politics, should be out of the reach of any person whom commits a serious crime, for two reasons:

1- It is offensive to their victims, and additional psychological punishment to see their tormentor's public success and reward.
2- It serves as example to others, that no matter how much talent and/or ability you have, there are boundaries you cannot cross.

 

[Battler]

Who cares? He's a footy player not a lawyer or politician. I'd argue that Bellamy has been worse for the game's image and marketability than blokes like Lodge and Packer.

 

[Broncs_Fan]

Who cares? He's a footy player not a lawyer or politician. I'd argue that Bellamy has been worse for the game's image and marketability than blokes like Lodge and Packer.

That would be a very weak argument imo.

 

[talanoa]

Who cares? He's a footy player not a lawyer or politician. I'd argue that Bellamy has been worse for the game's image and marketability than blokes like Lodge and Packer.

are you being fairdinkum???

 

[Battler]

are you being fairdinkum???

One insignificant prop who doesn't appear in any major advertising and is only known as Hitler reincarnated because of a media storm (I'm not arguing that what he did was OK, but he's had to go through a significant rehabilitation process to get to where he is this year) vs a guy who changed the way the game flows and helped bring into vogue tactics designed to put players into vulnerable positions (injury risk) thus increasing the perception the RL is a dangerous sport.

EDIT:
I'm just tired of the media narrative against the club. Lodge is the worst human being to play RL and is apparently going to cost the game from a marketing POV when there are people who have done years in jail currently playing that faced a fraction of the scrutiny that Lodge is copping. If the media weren't reporting this the general public wouldn't' care that Lodge is returning to the code.

Bennett is also apparently a whinger and terrible for the code when he objectively puts the game above the Broncos on several occasions.

 

[talanoa]

One insignificant prop who doesn't appear in any major advertising and is only known as Hitler reincarnated because of a media storm (I'm not arguing that what he did was OK, but he's had to go through a significant rehabilitation process to get to where he is this year) vs a guy who changed the way the game flows and helped bring into vogue tactics designed to put players into vulnerable positions (injury risk) thus increasing the perception the RL is a dangerous sport.

EDIT:
I'm just tired of the media narrative against the club. Lodge is the worst human being to play RL and is apparently going to cost the game from a marketing POV when there are people who have done years in jail currently playing that faced a fraction of the scrutiny that Lodge is copping. If the media weren't reporting this the general public wouldn't' care that Lodge is returning to the code.

Bennett is also apparently a whinger and terrible for the code when he objectively puts the game above the Broncos on several occasions.

how about you give the 9yr old boy a call and see how his rehabilitation is going after being subject to lodge's behaviour that night??
when you compared 2 convicted criminals to bellamy that is way off the mark. you cannot compare them at all.
in regards to what he has done to the game, he isn't a lone soldier here. plenty of coaches have run the same gauntlet. i do not agree with the storm niggle of yester year but to suggest bellamy is on the same path as these 2 criminals is nonsense.

my personal view - i would actually like to hear lodge front the media and the general public and really show his remorse and turn around and answer some questions. i am all for second chances however the fact that he has been relatively quiet and hidden stinks to me. i believe if lodge did front up and take a bit on the chin from the media and public the hype and bull would disappear very quickly. the more he stays quiet or directed to stay quiet will allow the vultures to keep feeding.

 

[talanoa]

Who cares? He's a footy player not a lawyer or politician. I'd argue that Bellamy has been worse for the game's image and marketability than blokes like Lodge and Packer.

fyi- our major sponsor nrma has already expressed concern to the club and reinforced their expectations for the game as well as nrma's asspciation with it.