A lot of what you say Sue I agree with. The problem as I see it though is that I know, again from personal experience, and we saw it with Stewart, that the Media don't report the news, they interpret the news. They do it to titillate the public, to sell their stories, which I know you realise. They also do it to use the Goebbels trick of manipulating the public into accepting certain values and issues to the benefit of their backers. Its the old Hitler claim from Mein Kampf (and yes I've read quite a bit of it) that if you tell a big lie often enough it becomes the truth. I've seen how they can manipulate information to push a certain agenda, so I am very wary of any reporting of such matters. There are exceptions and I recall an outstanding article on Stewart and the incident background by the SMH that gave a substantial overview of Stewart and the alleged victim and family. It was patently obvious it was a set up for cash. I've come across that many many times in the past.
Secondly the police and DPP are in a no win situation with issues involving high profile people being accused of serious matters, especially relating to sex and violence. They are confronted with this teenager and her stepfather accusing Brett of certain things. They suspect its a set up and perhaps ordinarily they would be less willing to charge, especially when they knew the step father's fraudulent past. But this is a matter that will go public, front page, with a media spin, pressure groups wanting action already assuming guilt, and a NRL promoting Brett in their publicity as the Face of the Game. High profile figures are much more under scrutiny than we normal citizens.
Are many rugby league players goof balls. A large proportion are from the lower socio-economic areas with lower education and few options in life. But they have a skill and put all their efforts into that. Many footballers these days have limited social involvement and those that succeed are doted on by fans, including a lot of young women. Their world is skewed. Many are kids in adult bodies, and most are in their teens and early twenties and that's who you tend to associate with. You tend to behave as your friends behave and these guys have a lot of energy and yes end up getting into goof ball behaviours. If there is a fault, it is the failure of the League to recognise just how easily mislead these guys can become. They are football smart but they are also inexperienced socially to the norms. They often don't have sensible wiser friends to guide them such as people like you Sue (and I'm not being facetious).
I remember as a young lad being tempted to involve myself in suspect behaviours. Fortunately most of the time I had good friends, sensible parents, and I didn't have anything special about myself that would cause adulation and temptation. That woman I described also guided me into appropriate relationship behaviours, that you don't know instinctively. I still did some goof ball things, most young guys I know did, but we learned our lessons without having to face a potential loss of our dreams.
Are many Rugby League players goof balls? Not Menzies, not Lyon, not King, not Stewart. But even in our team there are a few more than Walker. If the League was truly interested in the players, rather than consider them commodities, their money that they throw around to look after Teams salary cap issues etc could be used to assist in helping these guys to grow up and realise they are not God's gift, but just good at football. At the moment if we got rid of the guys displaying goof ball behaviour, our ranks would be significantly diminished.
