Banning Napa achieves nothing

The NRL’s hardline stance on off-field player behaviour is set to rob the Canterbury Bulldogs of utilising their new recruit Dylan Napa for the start of the NRL season, with rumours he could be suspended for up to 7 rounds after videos leaked in the off season of him in some compromising situations.

But what will suspending him achieve?

Sure the suspension will more than likely come with a significant fine as well, but suspending him only hurts the Bulldogs. And why should they be disadvantaged for simply signing a player who acted like a typical 20 year old with too much time on their hands?

He was a young man who made a mistake. It’s not like he was a 14 year veteran, with one of the most successful representative careers ever, who has undoubtedly participated in many player behaviour training sessions. (wink wink)

I mean what should the Bulldogs have done in the interview process to prevent this?

Bulldogs: Ok Dylan, thanks for joining us today. We are close to finalising this deal, we just have some final questions. Firstly, do you think turning up to training on time will be an issue?

Napa: Not at all. I’m always early

Bulldogs: Thats good to know. Do you have an issue with following our training plans we set out for you?

Napa: Nope. In fact I regularly do extras on my days off to stay ahead of the game

Bulldogs: Excellent. And lastly a multiple choice question. Your teammate is shadow boxing on one side of the room, while another is filming with a phone. Do you:

A) Cheer him on

B) Shadow box yourself

C) Leave the room due to being shy in front of the camera

D) Masturbate furiously and then give yourself a prostate exam

Napa: Gee…..thats a tough one

I totally understand fining him, and severly, to “warn” others to be more careful in future if you need to. These young men and women are given an education on the dangers of this type of behaviour every year, they only have themselves to blame when their actions bring the game into disrepute. But banning him does nothing. He still gets paid, while a club that was not responsible for his actions previously, is disadvantaged.

The club should just educate their players to get pissed, jump in their car, and speed.

You’ll probably get the Dally M!!!