Take a bow Luke Lewis

Tigerlily

Well-known member
![image|690x388](upload://qjc6QSeYUFAcsQRDJbTXcNy4Wnm.jpeg) https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/emotional-former-player-luke-lewis-delivers-sobering-message-on-nrl-player-behaviour/news-story/41e495e3ed0fc195e795b95fa629bb38

Hats off to you Luke, well done for putting your foot down👏…....
 
Saw it. Passionate statement by a quality person. Well done Luke and I bet the coward that hurt your mother would run a mile if he saw you..
 
Yeah, great stuff. I don't really understand what Graham was getting at last night. Lewis made sense.
 
Graham usually has something worthwhile to say but occasionally struggles to articulate it. I think he was saying that due to the working class background and aggressive sport being played, the people drawn to the game live on the edge - risk takers. They also may not generally be as well educated. This is somehow linked to the extreme behaviour we see.

I sort of get what he was trying to say but Luke Lewis nailed it - violence against women can never be excused no matter what the history background etc.
 
@Tiger_Steve said:
Graham usually has something worthwhile to say but occasionally struggles to articulate it. I think he was saying that due to the working class background and aggressive sport being played, the people drawn to the game live on the edge - risk takers. They also may not generally be as well educated. This is somehow linked to the extreme behaviour we see.

I sort of get what he was trying to say but Luke Lewis nailed it - violence against women can never be excused no matter

Yeah, Graham is usually very good, honest. I just didn't like when he said players have 300 collisions a year so what to people expect. I just thought, I just expect the players to act like humans.
But I know he meant something else, just can't grab what it is.
 
James Graham's point last night is sort of comparing footballers to having PTSD much like soldiers and police

And to a point I understand what he is saying …top forwards may make 1000 tackles in a season upward of 350 hit ups They are all at massive levels contact wise and it must be extremely hard to keep you at some extreme levels

Coming down after playing football at that level is hard

That all being said can possibly understand them getting in a fight or two ....but taking this out on women is totally unacceptable
 
Watched Lewis' grab this morning.

What a legend, puts it simply and perfectly. There's no excuse on background, wealth, how many collisions you take. Be the change you want to see. And he didn't let those grubs Kent or Ikin try to talk him around.
 
Thanks for posting @Tigerlily. Caught a snippet on the ABC this morning and will check it out later. It is very important for all non-offending men to speak to this issue amongst their peers when ever the opportunity provides.
 
Graham may not have said it well, but I think he (albeit poorly) alluded to something that's often overlooked.

I used to listen to Warren Ryan on ABC Radio and he'd often say "rugby league isn't played by choirboys" and I think that simple statement says a lot.

The culture of rugby league is hyper aggressive and, like all cultures, rewards those that abide by its values.

League is very much about dominating other people physically and mentally with little regard for the other person. You only need to go to a lower grade game to hear some of the things that trainers are screaming out to get a sense of it.

Sadly the culture manifests into some terrible off-field behavior. You can trace almost all the bad behavior back to physical and mental dominance over others.

I agree with Graham in many respects. Players that aren't too bright or big on self reflection can easily fall into the trap of taking the league culture off-field.

The culture in the game needs to change from this old-school hyper aggression to a high performance approach. I feel like that's why similar sports like the NFL have relatively fewer dramas.

What Luke Lewis said is terrific and I wish more players shared his values. But until the game's DNA changes, off-field behavior will more or less stay the same.
 
What a load of crap. If you disrespect women you can’t play our game. Full stop….you don’t need to be a genius to understand this. Where is the leadership in these clubs?
 
Complete and utter rubbish, and a real poor excuse or reason why some players treat women badly.

I've played rugby league, yes I was super competitive and aggressive and tried to dominate my opponent and encouraged my team mates to do the same.
I'm a completely different animal on the field not in a grubby way just in a competitive way, I'd say things on the field that I'd never say off it, but it was because on the field it was a war so you have to.

But once the full time whistle blew all that goes away, there's no longer a need to be aggressive or combative, the war is over.

I don't buy this "rugby league isn't played by choirboys" bs.
(For the record, my son performs in musical theatre and also plays rugby league)
Generally It may not be played by choirboys, but it doesn't mean you can go around beating women up.

I also don't buy this "lack of education" bs.
If you need to be educated on your moral obligation towards women, then you're a piece of crap.
A player doesn't get to NRL level these days without clearly understanding what is and isn't acceptable behavior.
 
What I posted was certainly not an excuse. And to be clear I agree with what Luke Lewis says.

And kudos to you for having the right approach and leaving aggression on the field.

But I can say with certainty that the NRL as a whole has some major culture problems that leads to atrocious off-field behavior. I know this because I have worked for NRL clubs and have seen it first hand.

To be clear, this is not an education problem. Players have been educated about this for nearly 20 years.
 
Just watched this thanks for sharing.
Kent can be really strong at times but he and Ikin came across like slimy worms here. I have no idea what Graham was trying to say… frankly sounds like an excuse from what I've read here and gathered from the clip.

Lewis says it best. If you disrespect women and this manifests itself as violence, unwanted sexual aggression or a disregard for other's privacy and decency then you should be out of the game if you can't fix your issues.

Other masculine cultures like other sports, the military etc.... Have issues too, but there is a thing called the law that is meant to punish perpetrators and seek justice for victims. Nothing makes me more disgusted than when men "close ranks" to protect scum bags, as happens all too often in our game and in society. Don't hush people up. Don't protect these scum.

After this off-season and the emerging issues on our WT board I think I'd be relieved if the whole game just failed and had to start again from grassroots. If dumb and dumber (beattie and his mate) stay in charge I might get my wish.
 
Now all we need is the club to come out and say something along the lines of "every player in every grade down to under 10's, has signed on to our respect for girls /women pledge". Break the pledge and your out, **no matter how talented you are!**
Now, many will say we don't really need to do this and its over the top.
But in 2019, perception is everything. Our game off the field is starting to smell.

In respect of James Grahams comments, I think he is a bit old school, 'its a tough game for tough people and it attracts a certain type of personality etc etc', but I get some of what he was saying. He just didn't articulate it well.
The elephant in the room is that many of our players do come from broken families, socially disadvantaged families, families with limited education and resources. You only have to listen to some of our young players speak to understand their lack of general knowledge and world awareness. If you are brought up with a set of rules that includes unacceptable behaviour, then how do you know any different? This is where the NRL and its Junior Clubs can be seen to be very actively pushing the anti violence theme all the way down thru the junior grades.

Now, is the time for our Board to demonstrate their social awareness re DV, their commercial awareness of a product that is slowly strangling itself to death and do something that differentiates us from every other club. Put Benji or Reynolds or Chris Lawrence as the face of it.

Enough of my rant.
 
I would also add that at the top level sponsors need to take a stand.

In the US, no company wants their brand associated with a sports team that's harboring dirtbags.

Yet the Brisbane Broncos sign Matt Lodge and companies that are allegedly 'good corporate citizens' (NRMA, Coca Cola, McDOnalds etc) stand by them.
 
There's a reason why he was given a second chance. Im not for a minute defending him, what he did was nuts, but the reason is genuine. There won't be another chance.
 
I understand and I knew you obviously are on team Lewis and I know where you're coming from about the types of people Rugby League attracts.
But I still had to mention that it's no reason.
I also understand what Graham was trying to say although I feel it comes across as a cop out, I want players saying exactly what Luke Lewis said, not fumbling their way through reasons why this happens.

I agree that Rugby League as a whole still has a lot of work to do.
 

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