Snake
Snake's Alive!
You'll have to get in touch with Sam Tagatese and let him know that you've re-awarded the Ken Stephen Medal for 2017 to Jackson Hastings.Jackson Hastings won the Ken Stephen Medal at Manly last year, so I don't think he was on the 'nose' at all. I'm not sure how half this stuff is made up, apart from degrading rumours on the 'Social Network'. How could he possibly be awarded one of the most prestigious medals at our club if he 'was on the nose' ...and as a result the club awarding him the award, he was nominated for the overall NRL award.
Hastings was nominated for the award but missed out. It's still a great achievement and he should be proud of his nomination but it's an award for working in the community and how the players contracted club feels about their position on the roster is not factored into the nomination process. It's an NRL initiative as well so he didn't win it at "our club".
The word is he didn't like losing his bench spot earlier in the year and he didn't put his body on line when he dropped back to NSW Cup. None of that is the end of the world but when your not playing first grade, not performing at NSW Cup level and your previous club is no longer propping up part of your contract (Roosters paid some of his contract this year), the current club are thinking of the benefits of freeing up cap space...not hard to fathom at all.
Now if there are no takers (which is a possibility) he will obviously see out his deal.