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Message: [QUOTE="Morkel, post: 3380365, member: 8215"] Let's see if this will fit in one post... ------------------------------------- Good afternoon team, I am a lifelong Broncos tragic, and on/off Broncos member, and I have supported the club through a lot of adversity. While, like any fan, I have not always agreed with some of the decisions made, I have backed the club in the hope that the decisions were made for the right reasons and by people who are genuinely looking to make the Brisbane Broncos successful on the field. However, one thing that I have not been able to stomach, and what has caused me to write to the club, is the club's apparent willingness to let the N(SW)RL walk all over it in terms of the treatment of its players. More specifically, in regards to the penalties that the players are handed down for events both on and off the field, in comparison to the players of other teams. Below are some examples that have left me wondering when the Broncos are going to stick up for themselves and address the disparate treatment: * Payne Haas and Albert Kelly potentially being handed a two week suspension for nothing more than a tiny scuffle between them, where no one from the public was endangered. * Kotoni Staggs being given a suspension after he had recovered from an injury - which is a precedent that I have never seen happen to a player ever. This was for an incident that happened way earlier, and the NRL had supposedly come to its conclusion in advance, but was not actually handed down until he was due to return from injury. * The prospect that Albert Kelly may also be given the same treatment as the above if the NRL do decide to suspend him for, well, whatever they think they can suspend him for after his scuffle with Haas. * Payne Haas being given a two week suspension for not co-operating with the Integrity Unit (see below on the contrast with a comparable occurrance). In contrast, these are incidents that have occurred with other NRL players, and the penalties incurred: * Tyrone May from the Panthers being formally charged with assault, yet no suspension being handed to him despite there being CCTV footage. * Cameron Munster and Brandon Smith suspended for just one week after being proven to have been taking illegal drugs. * Reece Walsh being convicted for drug possession and given a two week suspension, but allowed to serve one week of it for a game that he was never actually going to play (All Stars game). * Dylan Walker suspended for one game after being found guilty of a drunken assault on a member of the public, despite previous similar incidents from him. * James Tedesco, Roosters captain and often-used Face Of The NRL, admits to racial abuse, after initially denying it multiple times, and receiving no suspension or punishment of any kind. * Sam Burgess given a backdated suspension for "multiple breaches of NRL's code of conduct, including failing to report incidents", effectively serving zero suspension (as compared to how harshly Haas was treated). I find just as disgusting the treatment the players have been receiving for on-field incidents. Incidents include: * Adam Blair being given a lengthy suspension for an incident that did not even warrant a penalty on the field, with the NRL calling it a "shoulder charge" despite no shoulder contact or even high contact occurring. * TPJ being overly scrutinised and often suspended while playing for the Broncos, yet he has barely been mentioned while playing for the Bulldogs, despite him playing in the exact same aggressive style. * Tom Flegler being put on report for four separate incidents in one game, despite most commentators agreeing that three of them were not even worthy of a penalty (and being charged for three of them). * Numerous Broncos players being suspended for incidents that were either minor, or not even illegal, often just hard, legal tackles that the NRL suspend under the "Dangerous Contact" label. I cannot remember the last time that the Broncos defended any of these charges despite them often being extremely minor incidents and comparable to countless similar incidents that go unpunished every weekend. I can understand the club do not want to give the players any excuses for poor discipline, but surely behind the scenes the club could be pressuring the NRL for explanations on why their players are so heavily targeted. The club's willingness to accept any and all punishments handed down has already created a situation that negatively affects both the club and its players. The NRL know that Broncos players are easy targets for them to make an example of, with their (rightly so) public agenda to condemn violence, abuse, and behaviour that brings the game in to disrepute, resulting in Broncos players missing many games, while other teams do not lose their players for comparable incidents. On a player level, we have a situation where careers can be ruined by such heavy scrutiny, an example being Tom Flegler. He was finally starting to reach his potential while playing Origin, but since then has been so heavily dealt with that his career is effectively at a crossroads. His only course of action now is to be so hesitantly passive when playing that he will be nowhere near as effective as he should be, devaluing his worth to not only the Broncos, but his career earning potential in all forms. When you compare this treatment to, say, a player like Victor Radley, who has played his whole career with a willingness to employ cheap, illegal tactics, and yet in his case the NRL have actively wound back their "player safety" crackdown because players like him were restricted by such rules. I believe the club needs to address these issues with the NRL urgently. The negative attention, and the resulting poor results on the field due to the interruptions to the playing roster, have already started to negatively affect the Broncos' marketability (resulting in less free-to-air exposure), and will almost certainly result in frustrated and disenfranchised fans waning in their support for the club that they have held in such high regard. With the introduction of the Dolphins, the NRL will have a vested interest in converting such Brisbane-based league fans in to Dolphins supporters in order to justify their admission in to the competition. Things are only going to get worse for the club when this happens, so I implore the club to take a proactive stance on this issue now, before the damage done becomes almost irreparable. Thank you for your attention with this matter and I look forward to the Broncos finally restoring some of the respect that has been eroded. Regards, Morkel Former BHQ Staff Member and 2015 SVRL Champion [/QUOTE]

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