Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould says the NRL and clubs need to join forces to ban fans and members from games who are using social media to vilify and defame players.
Gould is sick of so-called supporters using platforms such as Instagram to attack players and go on rants that are clearly breaking the laws of defamation. He has seen the impact it has on players at his club and has had feedback from rivals about the rise of supporters who rant to their followers about players who they think are not delivering on the field.
โOne of the most toxic things in the game of rugby league today is this growing trend of โfansโ venting their fury on social media platforms every time their team loses a game,โ Gould said.
โThese so-called fans record a video of themselves delivering a full-throated abusive message, which directly abuses coaches, club officials and players. These vitriolic social media posts are not only abusive, they are expletive-laden, threatening, defaming rants designed to intimidate and destabilise.
โThe worst thing about these rants is that they actually attract an audience.
โMost clubs have them. Itโs been particularly evident in recent times with the Dragons and their recent run of losses.
โFans having an opinion and freedom of speech is understood. Abuse, intimidation, threats and defamation are surely not acceptable.
โThe NRL and clubs need to take a stand. Withdrawing memberships, season tickets, banning them from attending live games should be a bare minimum.โ
These pages exist from fanbases throughout the league. They feature supporters yelling at their followers, giving scathing take-downs of players in rants that are highly offensive and defamatory.
Fans making their own content by baiting players is also a troubling development. We saw Parramatta fans daring Tigers players to fight them at a recent game. They were filming the players and gesturing to them hoping to get them to react.
Something similar happened to Panthers coach Ivan Cleary after a game when a fan started filming him in the coaches box. Players and coaches deserve better.
Meninga becoming too much to bear for NRL
There is a far bigger problem emerging for the Perth Bears than the departure of general manager David Sharpe on Thursday, and it is centred on head coach Mal Meninga.
The NRL is seriously questioning its decision to appoint Meninga as coach. And that may be putting it nicely.
Meninga is annoyed by the departure of right-hand man Sharp and the failure to get Ezra Howe over the line as recruitment manager.
So far Meninga has shown no signs of wanting to walk away. And why would he โ no one else is going to pay him $1 million a season to coach. But the Bears are aware that the NRL has fallen out of love with the coach.
There has also been talk recently linking Meningaโs assistant, Ben Gardiner, to a potential coaching job in England. Gardiner will get a job as a head coach in the NRL one day, and it could even be at Perth.
Katoa facing key medical test
Eli Katoa has a significant medical test coming up next month to determine if he has a hope of returning to rugby league next year.
If his recovery from a serious brain injury is significant, the next step will be determined by an independent medical panel the Melbourne Storm will assemble. The panel will be made up of the best medical experts the club can find.
Katoa underwent emergency surgery in Auckland after he suffered a string of sickening head knocks playing for Tonga against New Zealand on November 2. He was subsequently ruled out of the entire 2026 season, and any return to the game is now in doubt.
The Storm have been inspired by his attitude around the club during his rehabilitation.
Flanagan hasnโt given up on coaching
Shane Flanagan may not have known it, but he had a huge supporter in the owner of WIN TV, billionaire Bruce Gordon.
The complicated Dragons set-up โ where Gordon owns 50 per cent of the joint venture โ was made more tricky by the good impression Flanagan made on Gordon.
Flanagan and the Dragons parted ways on Monday, but he is telling those close to him that he wants to coach again. He is bemused by links to the Catalans Dragons job in France, however.
After the events of Monday, he has started to feel like himself again. The prospect of being an assistant coach is far more realistic.
The feeling before Flanagan exited the Dragons was that the sooner son Kyle Flanagan found a new home the better. The Dragons say they have no plans to move him on, but some within the club believe it would be the smartest thing for him to do following the departure of his father. But we saw Billy Walters remain at the Broncos when his dad, Kevin, was axed as coach, and he has made it work.
Kyle is described as his dadโs blind spot. Kyle was the only player mentioned at the media conference to announce Shaneโs exit. He is on $400,000 or so a year and has another season to run on his contract, but with his father moving on he may be treated as just another player. It could be easier day to day at the club.
He will be used off the bench and in the off-season it will be no surprise to see him train at hooker, which may be his best opportunity at the club. In the past when things were going badly at the Bulldogs, Kyle was groomed as a back-up No.9.
If things get worse, Kyle could find a home in England. When he was at the Bulldogs and struggling, Phil Gould found English clubs to take him on. Kyle didnโt want that, and he ended up at the Dragons.
Kenty highlights Anasta conflict
Braith Anasta has been accused of being thin-skinned and conflicted by the man who used to sit alongside him on his pay TV rugby league show.
Speaking on his podcast, Kenty Blitz, former NRL 360 host Paul Kent said what plenty are thinking when it comes to Anasta and his response to Dragons chairman Andrew Lancaster.
Anasta took offence after Lancaster had a crack at sections of the media as the Dragons announced coach Shane Flanagan was leaving the club on Monday. Anasta saw it as directed at him and took it as a personal attack.
The inference that some in the media have an โagendaโ is the bait that caught Anasta, who delivered an eloquent but emotional response.
The issue is that Anasta protested too much. Kent latched on to this, highlighting Anastaโs conflict of interest โ he is a player agent dealing with clubs on a daily basis to get the best deal and taking no prisoners along the way.
โIโve got to be a little bit careful about where I go here because Iโll be accused of having agendas,โ Kent said. โBraith was very strong and he didnโt miss him. But was he speaking as the player manager of Lachlan Ilias or as a host of a TV show?โ
This column has previously highlighted the way that Anasta and most of his colleagues turned on Flanagan. It happened after it became clear Ilias was not going to have a clear path into first grade with Kyle Flanagan blocking his path.
Flanagan snr was a Fox Sports favourite and was being praised at every turn because it suited a narrative they were running at the time. But as Anastaโs frustration grew around Ilias so did the negativity towards Flanagan.
These are the agendas Lancaster was referring to.
The issue is as an agent who was going in to bat for his client, Anasta should not have expressed his opinion publicly on the matter, or at the very least, declared every time that he was speaking as an agent not as a host.
Kent highlighted the conflict that is damaging the show Anasta hosts.
The bigger issue is that Anasta is left unchecked by his bosses, who are, to borrow a phrase from Anasta that he used to described Lancaster, โweak as pissโ.
As a journalist, I didnโt care about Lancaster going on the attack. The media gives out plenty, and we canโt be too offended when the blowtorch is turned on us.
I was more annoyed by the โone questionโ rule that was applied to the media who drove to the Bruce Gordon Centre of Excellence in Wollongong for the snap media conference on Monday. That was insulting to those who had a job to do and to the clubs fans who have been angry about the way the club is performing.
We didnโt get a lot out of the experience, but hopefully the club did. They have a great media team there and they should be allowed to do their job.
May day for TV deal
There will be a lot written and said about the next NRL broadcast deal. Here is some certainty: those bidding for the rights have until May 5 to ask questions of the NRL about their submission. And the cut-off date is May 26 to make a play for the rights.
Once the submissions are in, the negotiations will take place.
The NRL does not want its fans to have to pay to watch every game. Nor does it want to subsidise the pay TV deal the AFL struck through subscriptions.
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