Stirring The `tea Leaf' Will Steal The Show During Next Season's Clashes
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday December 13, 2003
What chance someone yells out, ``watch your mouthguards, boys" when the player at the centre of allegations about money stolen on the ``Klepta-roo" tour becomes entangled in a pile of wrestling bodies on a football field next season.
Or a wit reminds the referee to watch out for ball stealing when his team meets the one containing the mystery Kangaroo.
The anger of Australian rugby league players that one of their own would steal from them during last month's three-Test series against Great Britain was such that the code of ``what goes on tour, stays on tour" was broken in days.
As a mystery, it wasn't Agatha Christie. The Sun-Herald was able to confirm a player was the chief suspect in the loss of $6500 during the four-week tour, despite efforts by the Australian Rugby League to keep it quiet.
Normally, it takes months for tour ``atrocities" to surface, but the speed with which the Great Kangaroo ``Tea Leaf" story appeared indicates a high level of player outrage.
The code's top sledgers will have fun at the chief suspect's expense, but how he manages the verbal shrapnel will depend on his personality. If he is a gregarious player who needs to be liked, he will find the ostracism unbearable. If he is a loner, a man who does not mix readily with teammates or opposition players, he will manage.
The pace of the modern game and the critical importance of winning is also in his favour. Players have enough trouble gathering their breath without wasting words on someone who may have built a shield around himself.
By reimbursing the players who reported money stolen, the ARL showed it understood the mind of the modern athlete very well. As far as the wronged players are concerned, the matter is probably closed. Some Kangaroos will have trouble accepting that the suspect, who also claimed he had money stolen, has been reimbursed as well, but this will be outweighed by the positive of Robbie Kearns, Shane Webcke, Darren Lockyer and Craig Gower getting their cash back.
ARL chief executive Geoff Carr confirmed this was part of the strategy, ensuring men who should be rewarded were not robbed.
``The four players who all went public on having money stolen made great contributions to the tour," he said.
``We wanted to ensure they didn't lose financially."
The ARL was also clever in its press release, deflecting the possibility of guilt to a hotel employee or guest in Leeds.
Players' Association chief executive Tony Butterfield said there should always be the presumption of innocence, adding: ``If players take a shot a him, it's a matter for them."
Fans searching for evidence of retribution next season should factor in physical prowess. A player with a reputation for big hits will be less likely to attract attention than a more nimble man, meaning that any Kangaroo targeted next year cannot necessarily be assumed to be the culprit.
As far as the player's teammates are concerned, he will be tolerated if he continues to deliver on the field and leaves their property alone. All teams have their tight-arses, grasscutters and bigheads. Provided they deliver, these flaws are tolerated, even used as a team glue. The latest story of someone's parsimony always helps lighten the mood in the dressing room during a long, losing winter.
Former Norths, Canterbury, Gold Coast and representative front-rower Martin Bella was different in the sense he has embarked on a lifelong experiment to prove that some front-rowers are intelligent.
Bella would interrupt team meetings to make some philosophical observation, once inviting the wrath of the saintly Wayne Bennett, who told him his job was to carry the ball forward, not pass it, and shut up. Yet everyone loved playing with Bella.
The major problem facing the suspect is he may offend again. His club has a responsibility to assist him if he is a kleptomaniac, because the club chief executive contacted the player's manager when the media firestorm erupted and agreed nothing would be gained by going public.
If the player had made a public admission he had an illness, players would have been sympathetic, even offering friendship. Now he will be watched like Winona Ryder shopping at Saks.
Unlike the American actress, who was found guilty of shoplifting, the Kangaroo has faced no court. But Ryder has a greater chance of making another movie than the Kangaroo has of finding another club.
© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald
Share This