Bennett calls for body to overrule clubs

Master coach Wayne Bennett has called for an independent body to govern the punishment of NRL players for off-field indiscretions, saying the time had come for the power to be taken out of the hands of the clubs.

Tired of the same old headlines dominating the back pages, Bennett on Sunday said
the answer to rugby league's recent spate of off field woes was staring the NRL in
the face, with the precedent set in the 1980's and 90's.
Bennett pointed to the governing body's moves to clean up the judiciary system and
its drugs in sport regime of the past as proof as to the best way to handle
instances of off-field misbehaviour.
"When drugs in sport became an issue, the steroids, in our code in particular we
started off with our own type of policy, someone would get charged and the game
would tear itself apart like it is now with player behaviour," Bennett told ABC
radio on Sunday.
"All of a sudden the Australian Drug agency was employed, they took it all over,
they run it, they set the sentences, they set the standards, everybody in the game
knows where they stand now.
"You've only got to go back to the judiciary when they brought Jim Comans in to
clean the game up - he didn't have anybody behind him pulling his strings for him,
he came in as an independent guy in charge of the judiciary and he cleaned the game
up within 12 months, 18 months, two years and set a wonderful standard.
"It's obvious what we've got to do."
Player behaviour reared its ugly head again with allegations Bulldogs five-eighth
Daniel Holdsworth had been involved in a brawl outside a Cronulla nightclub early
Sunday morning, though club officials were confident the lower grade playmaker would
be cleared of any wrongdoing.
"If making a poor judgement call was in the code of conduct, he would certainly be
guilty of that," Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said.
"Sure I'm disappointed that he was out until that late, but we breath tested him
this morning and he blew zero, so he certainly wasn't out on a bender or anything
like that."
Bennett said stamping out player behaviour would be an impossible task, but claimed
an independent body would help eradicate any grey areas in relation to differing
punishments.
Already this season the NRL has had to step in to suspend Manly fullback Brett
Stewart and Sydney Roosters hooker Jake Friend when their club's had elected to let
them keep playing, while Cronulla halfback Brett Seymour was also banned for two
games when video footage of his drunken antics became public.
The NRL on Sunday announced it would form a committee to develop guidelines on
recommended penalties for rugby league players who misbehave off the field.
The committee will comprise of NRL and Rugby League Players Association delegates as
well as club chief executives Greenberg, Stephen Noyce (Sydney Roosters), Shane
Richardson (South Sydney) and Bruno Cullen (Brisbane).
Bennett said he didn't see the need for another committee.
"We all struggle with it, it just shouldn't be in our hands," Bennett said.
"I've known that for a long time, I've said it for a long time and while we continue
to allow it to be in our hands we'll continue to get the raging debates and the
headlines that we don't necessarily need.
"It's all in front of us - it's obvious - I don't know what we've got to have a
meeting about."