I disagree with Phil Gould. Definitely not for the first time and probably not for the last. But his call to ban Mitchell, Carr and Cleary for the whole season is way, way over the top.

Perhaps he even knows that. And is even more acutely aware that another wild public outburst and over-reaction isn't such a bad move in keeping a man relevant & newsworthy when the sport is looking, post-covid, for new direction purpose and leadership. Make no mistake here, what these three senior players  did in deliberately breaking and flouting lockdown laws was stupid, selfish and deserves rebuke. Which I think, in terms of the fines and suspended suspensions, has already been adequately delivered.

And before you think I'm being too soft on their idiocy, I assure you I am fully aware of the potential disaster these actions could've and still might create. When the Ozzie Sports Minister says behaviour like this could put the whole restart process in jeopardy you know the situation is a little more serious than an impromptu Tik-Tok with five  "friends of your sister who just happened to pop in on the way to wait  for an uber". Or whatever the excuse was Nathan Cleary came up with.

I don't know what's more stupid. What him and Carr & Mitchell did or the the fact they willingly post it all on social media. That means, by definition, it's in the public domain. Which, translated, means everyone in the whole  world gets to see it comment on it and share it with THEIR bosses within minutes of it being put up. It beggars belief that this bit fails to compute.

All the seminars, nurturing, mentoring, advice, counselling, reminders, warnings - either it's not getting through or some players still think it just doesn't apply to them. Look I do understand the "hang 'em high" mentality  espoused by blokes like Gould, I also think in a few months when this crisis has dramatically calmed itself we might well regard these transgressions as more silly than sinister. In the meantime can someone please just reiterate again to all the players that NRL does not stand for No Rules Lockdown.