"Okay, we were wrong, but it's your fault for not telling us earlier."
You were told earlier, you just didn't give a shit.
This. 100% this. Why is it the Broncos' responsibility to tell everyone the facts?
I'm still wondering if this wasn't the Broncos' plan all along. Like I mentioned elsewhere, they knew the facts, but were under no obligation to release them. The Broncos powerbrokers needed to know. The NRL needed to know. Scum journalists can go and get fucked. And, predictably, the media made up the facts, relied on money-hungry witnesses to fuel the canned outrage, and the "experts" to get on their high horse and declare the Broncos as the morally bankrupt, salary-cap-cheating bad guys.
Now where does it leave them? Embarrassingly back-tracking, clinging to "they should have said so" while still refusing to admit that they were fucking wrong, even though everyone now knows it.
You know what this also does? It means that there is no fucking way on this planet that Lodge is going to re-offend. With all this drama, he knows there is no future for him if he steps out of line. But the Broncos will have been supporting him every step of the way, likely being in constant contact with him, reassuring him that he has a home with us and that he'll be looked after. When the vultures down south start throwing money at him, it may well be those things that keep him here for, say, $500k while desperate clubs offer him $1 million, with all the vices and pitfalls that come with living in Sydney.