This incident was obviously very upsetting for the daughter of
@wombatgc and very disappointing for the club's supporters. I think there has always been a history of not-so-good-behaviour by players in our club, but in the past, you only heard about it on the grapevine. Now, there are smartphones to record bad behaviour & social media to broadcast it instantly.
As we know, both players have prior bad form, and should be counting their lucky stars that they even have the opportunity to play NRL and earn good money. Fainu's sex tape was very distasteful - only a handful of young men would stoop so low. It's such a shame because he is a very talented player & exciting to watch (one of my favourites in the current team - I hope that he is found not guilty on the stabbing charge). A problem is that his friends & extended family include gang members. At heart individuals may be good, but can behave badly when constantly keeping company with less desireable types. It appears peer pressure is having a detrimental effect on these players.
I think management and Des should come down very hard to stamp out this behaviour. In Manase's case, I think he should be dissuaded from using social media. Also, maybe Des should push through his original idea to house the islander players from the west on the Northern Beaches (with perhaps a live in cook & house manager). The players should be encouraged to do a lot of community work and become role models for boys and young men from the west with similar backgrounds.