Parramatta have resisted calls to take down social media photos of controversial former Eels superstar Jarryd Hayne posing with Mitchell Moses and Josh Addo-Carr.
Thatโs despite receiving such a backlash they had to turn off comments 24 hours after an Instagram photo gallery displayed images of Hayne sparked criticism of the club and the former player.
Hayne was embraced by the club when he attended a reunion of the 2009 grand final team at the Eels-Cowboys match at CommBank Stadium last Saturday night.
Hayne was the star of that team. But his life and reputation have never been the same since he was charged with two counts of sexual intercourse without consent following an incident involving a 26-year-old woman in her Newcastle home on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.
Hayne was found guilty twice following two trials, only for his convictions to be overturned on appeal. Hayne, who always maintained his innocence, was freed from prison in June 2024.
But the damage to his life and that of the young lady and her family canโt be undone.
Itโs hard to know why Hayne was featured in two of the five photos posted by the Eels. Iโve seen the comments that were made before they were removed, and they were damning of both him and the club. At best, it was naive from the Eels. It felt tone-deaf.
The words of a supporter who wrote to me summed it up well:
โI just got really annoyed when half the comments on the Eels post were fans saying how it wasnโt a good look and the clubโs response was to just turn off commenting. The other half were men arguing with anyone who disagreed and claiming he was found innocent, which he wasnโt. If that was my club, I would be harassing the CEO for an explanation. What is the point of the Eels having a women in league round when they publicise Hayne and then turn off the comments from fans expressing their disgust.
โBut itโs so tricky now that itโs been overturned. If we stopped platforming men who clearly demonstrate a lack of respect for women, perhaps we could start addressing the misogyny that is so prevalent in the NRL and our country.
โIf I were the victim. Watching the way victims are torn apart during trials, and then seeing the public pile-on online. You canโt go online without seeing people dying to defend their favourite sports star. And even when someone is found guilty, there are still people determined to defend them.โ
The celebration of Hayne and his teammates could easily have been kept off social media. Those who were impacted by the events of that 2018 night are dismayed that he was lauded so publicly by the club.
Itโs a significant mistake by an organisation that is struggling to reestablish its reputation as a big club in the NRL.
An Eels spokesperson said: โLast Saturday nightโs post was an acknowledgment of members of the 2009 grand final team who had gathered together at our home game against the Cowboys.โ
Swans spiralling
To give people on this side of the country an indication of the way AFL stars are treated in Western Australia: Ben Cousins reads the sports news for Channel 7 in Perth.
In 2010, Cousins released a documentary on his life, Such is Life, and published his autobiography, Ben Cousins: My Life Story. Both provided a candid insight into his personal life, drug addiction and recovery.
A woman who visited the room has alleged she was sexually assaulted by one of the players. A police investigation is under way. Heeney is at the centre of the investigation.
Cousins couldnโt deliver that story.
Matt Pavlich, a cleanskin former Western Australian AFL legend who was also a newsreader, is the Swans chief executive.
Within nine months, Pavlich has overseen or contributed to two of the biggest reputational disasters in the Swansโ history.
So itโs not surprising an element of the Swans faithful feels Pavlich should pack up and return to the wild west.
Pavlich is the man who decided to remove a reference to the Jewish community when the club was paying tribute to the victims of the Bondi massacre earlier this year. He personally edited the words out of the script. He later apologised publicly.
If that act of incompetence wasnโt enough, he is now the boss of a club whose players feel entitled and unhinged enough to go wild then allegedly assault a woman after a game with a premiership in their grasp.
He might want to take the coach, Dean Cox, with him. Cox managed to be a cleanskin in the Cousins era at the Eagles โ the club that had the worst culture in the history of Australian sport. But he was in the environment. He should know better.
Yet there he was on the streets of Melbourne after midnight, with his squad given the green light to celebrate their season.
Those who understand the Swansโ make-up say the events of the last week are awful, but the loose behaviour is not surprising.
The off-field standards at the club have been fraying at the edges since coaching changes were undertaken in 2024.
The old coach, John Longmire, was viewed as too uptight. The new one may be too lax, given the events of the last week. In a few short hours, five of their players have severely impacted the lives of the women who were in their presence and ruined the Swansโ image for the next decade at least.
Iโm speaking from experience, having covered the Bulldogs Coffs Harbour rape allegations in 2004.
That club didnโt recover from that for years. Their players were haunted by scuttlebutt and innuendo. And there was never a charge laid.
I spoke to players as that story was at its peak. Some explained what happened. Some expressed anger at the claims of the alleged victim, and at the media.
One of my stories, in which players gave an insight into the group sex culture in rugby league, in part resulted in the club being fined $500,000.
I had a fallout with Steve Folkes, the late Dogs coach at the time over that, and it was never repaired.
That story raised the issue of disrespect for women in league at the time.
The Coffs Harbour drama ruined lives and careers. For the alleged victims, for staff at the Bulldogs, and even in the NSW Police force.
The Swans are about to go down that path. The outcome of the police investigation wonโt determine the teamโs fate.
Here is an undeniable fact. At best, they are a club littered with dickheads โ quite the opposite of the holier-than-thou, โNo dickheadsโ culture that has been presented to the sporting world.
Those who deal with the side say the โSwans cultureโ is one of the great myths in Australian sport.
Why havenโt the players in the room that night been made to face the media to apologise?
Instead, they were driven back from Melbourne to dodge media at Sydney airport and hide. Their images have been removed from banners that normally adorn the SCG.
Sponsors are also ditching them and club gear is not being worn when media is being conducted.
The fans who spend their hard-earned money to support the team are owed some remorse and genuine accountability. Put aside the horrible events of the night that ended with a woman screaming in the team foyer at 7am and wind back how they got there.
Why were players doing what they were doing a couple of weeks out from the finals? Where were the leaders? Who thought this behaviour was appropriate? Was anyone stepping in and saying it was unacceptable?
All this from a club that likes to buddy up to corporates and present an image of class.
Here is a key point. AFL is an adopted sport in Sydney. For so many, a day out at the Swans is the trendy or cool ticket in town.
The pretty face of Heeney is a big seller. The appeal of the Swans to families and females is huge. Whether they will now support a team that behaves in this manner remains to be seen.
Anyone with daughters is looking at the playersโ behaviour and having second thoughts. The club has championed its womenโs program. But the lack of respect for women and their fans is impossible to forget. Itโs certainly only the rusted-on who will now cheer, cheer the red and the white.
Storm open door for Bellamy in 2028
While the noise has been that Craig Bellamy is done as head coach at the Storm after next year, the club is not going to give up that easily.
Melbourne chair Matt Tripp will leave the door open for Bellamy to return in 2028, provided his health is OK. He will encourage him to keep going.
Bellamy was diagnosed in April with a form of neurodegenerative disorder. However, he recommitted to the Storm earlier this month for 2027.
Cleary would be perfect to coach Australia
Australia, Queensland and Storm legend Cameron Smith is an obvious candidate for the Kangaroos coaching job vacated by Kevin Walters walking away this week.
Itโs not as high-pressure as the Maroons Origin gig he decided not to go for when Billy Slater decided to stand down last week.
Ivan Cleary, who will step down as Penrith coach at the end of next season, would also be a great option for Australia. He has previously said representative coaching is something he would like to pursue. He would be almost impossible to turn down if he puts his hand up.
Clearyโs calm approach would be perfect, particularly on a Kangaroo tour.
It would be an even better fit than coaching NSW.
Big Mal doesnโt need a marquee
Coach Mal Meninga is so happy with the Bearsโ inaugural roster for the 2027 season that he doesnโt want the marquee allowances that the club lobbied the NRL for.
The Bearsโ brains trust worked overtime to get third-party deals that wonโt count in the cap and can be drawn from an existing sponsor.
โThe roster when I looked at it with Mal is a good one,โ said NRL boss Peter Vโlandys. โItโs a smart roster with players between the age of 24 and 31. Itโs a lot better than people think it is.
โI spoke to Mal about the marquee player allowance and he said, โI donโt think I need it because Iโm very happy with my rosterโ. Itโs now up to Mal to mould it into a team.โ
Katoa seeking help in North America
Sidelined Melbourne back-rower Eli Katoa will undergo one more test before embarking on an extended trip overseas with Storm medical staff to assess his chances of returning next year.
Katoa has not played since he suffered heavy concussion playing for Tonga against New Zealand last November. He has upped his training and there have been some positive signs. But the verdict on his future could come after he sees specialists in the US and Canada.
The Storm will be guided in part by what comes out of those meetings.
On game day before Origin II against Queensland at the MCG, Katoa held a very public meeting at the NSW team hotel with performance guru Gilbert Enoka, who has worked with the All Blacks for two decades and the NSW Blues.
Given everything he has been through, the mental battle is almost as tough as the physical one for Katoa.
There is no one better when it comes to mental clarity in his field than Enoka.
He was with the Blues in a bigger role last year but was poached back by the All Blacks.
Vale, Billy Smith
The funeral of Dragons great Billy Smith will be held on Thursday at Woronora Cemeteryโs South Chapel Crematorium from 1pm.
Smith passed away this week. He was 84 years old. A wake at Billyโs favourite old watering hole, the Caringbah Hotel, will follow the service from 3pm.
Fans, former players and club officials are welcome to celebrate the life of Smith, who played 234 matches for the Dragons, winning four premierships between 1963 and 1966.
He is a member of the NRL Hall of Fame, and a former Kangaroos captain who represented Australia on 44 occasions, including in 26 Test and World Cup matches.
He is considered one of the finest halfbacks in the gameโs history.
The Dark Knight โ Old Boys Day
It was a day of celebration at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday as the club hosted Old Boys Day, despite the Sea Eagles toppling Newcastle 44-24.
The occasion saw the unveiling of The Dark Knight crowd favourite, in a nod to the history of the Newcastle Knights and the people who have helped build the club.
โThe Dark Knight represents a new chapter for the club. We want to create an environment where our fans donโt just come to watch the footy they come for an experience,โ said Newcastleโs group chief commercial officer, Jodie Cross.
โWe want our supporters to feel part of something bigger to feel like they are entering their Kingdom, a place they are proud to call home.
โThe Dark Knight is a symbol of that ambition: respecting our history, embracing our identity, and building something exciting for the future. And ultimately, itโs about our fans. We want every generation of Knights supporter to have a match day experience they are proud of.โ
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