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Hat tip: the Guardian

The coach you got sacked because he got smacked.

Yep, think about Jason “Kung Fu” Taylor only got given the DCM because he got KO’ed by David “The Terminator” Fa’alogo.  Fa’alogo’s career at Souths also got terminated.

Let’s take another scenario.

Taylor goes out gets tanked, makes a gold medal dick of himself (think Dick Taylor ) and gets put in a taxi drunk as the proverbial sailor and goes home.

Hardly sackable offence given his appearance was approved at the Sad Sunday piss up.

Instead, Fa’alogo returns the serve and Taylor hits the deck.  Career over for the short term.

So yep, he’s getting the sack for getting whacked.  Not once either, according to the Sun-Herald in Oz:

[The footage ...] clearly shows Fa’alogo punching Taylor in the face after the pair were involved in kung-fu-style mucking around that got out of hand. Fa’alogo then follows up with a second strike to the back of the head, which causes Taylor to stumble down a set of stairs and out of camera shot.

Taylor’s camp has said a hotel staffer witnessed Fa’alogo punch Taylor in the head a third time off-camera. It’s understood this blow caused an egg-shaped lump on the forehead, as seen in the photo.

Three times.  No wonder his face looked like it did.

Mind you, next time you’re out on the piss, tell the Domestic CEO you’re “concussed”:

Taylor’s recollections stem primarily from viewing of the CCTV footage, as he claims to have no memory of the incident.

He was adamant that he was drinking responsibly and he submitted written evidence from three independent witnesses that he was not intoxicated as part of his submission to the club.

”He was so concussed he even smiled for the photo. He has no memory of it,” Lana Taylor said of the photograph taken shortly after the incident, which shows Taylor still in Japanese-themed attire.

Yep, all that drinking made him concussed.

Anyway, his concussion has gone along with his job at Souths.

Run, Rabbit, run.

Anyway, around here, we always focus on the big issues.

Like pissheads, dickheads and cheating Aussies.

And bingo!!! the Herald has wrapped them all up into a nice little gallery.

• Gred Inglis – dickhead
• Anthony Watmough – pisshead, dickhead
• Reni Matua – cheating Aussie
• Brett Seymour – pisshead, dickhead, Warrior (one of these words is not like the other)
• Tony Zappia (no relation to Frank) – dickhead, cheating Aussie
• Brad Fittler – pisshead, dickhead
• Nate Myles – pisshead, dickhead, shit for brains
• Mathew Johns – dickhead
• Greg Bird – pisshead, dickhead
• Brett Stuart – pisshead, dickhead

And like the Warriors against the Titans last week, I got bored and gave up.

And there’s still a couple more months for more dickheads and pissheads to emerge.

The footy is still great, lots of close games, a few boilovers, and the two refs were hardly noticed at all.

And we have the first player pisshead controversy of the year – before a ball was even kicked in anger.

Now, I can repeat the Willie Lose line about players not being role models.

I accept that to agree – rugby players (union or league) shouldn’t be confused with rocket scientists or anyone else for that matter with a skill or expertise that contributes to society’s betterment.

They are now no more than well-paid entertainers. And there in lines the nub of the issue for me.

Manly as the reigning premiers (and current world club champs) will undoubtedly be expecting some commercial payback from these results on the field.

Commercial sponsors will naturally be lining up to associate themselves with Manly to share in this reflected glory.   It is synergistic – players like Brett Stewart earn big dollars from the money that businesses put in to the game, along with the dollars put in by the long suffering fan.

So a player hitting a sponsor does not seem to be expected outcome a sponsor would have put into their eent marketing plan!

As with Jesse Ryder, players have a right if they so choose to be dickheard pissheads.    No one is holding a gun to their head.

However, at functions, players need to accept that they are in a commercial relationship and that this is simply part of their employment.

Again, it’s quite simple.   If players don’t want to attend, they shouldn’t have to.

By the same token, clubs shouldn’t be expected to part with large buckets of money for players who don’t want to help themselves and their club.

The big part of the problem as Willie Lose often suggests is that these are just footy players.

We have expectations that they will understand the right thing to do.    For most, their skills as players means for most of their life people have overlooked their weaknesses and sycophatnicly fawned on the players.

For me it’s simple – it’s an employment issue and responsibility.    If players can’t learn to behave as employees, they should be disciplined, warned and if the warning is not heeded, sacked. Simple.

Players like Stewart aren’t role models. They are dickheads.

Now, can we please get back to the footy and bagging the Super 14?

At the very same time that Jesse Ryder was publicly humiliated by his employer, Sione Lauaki yet again has publicly humiliated his employer.

I made the point that Ryder’s latest transgression was relatively minor in comparison to what our All Blacks regularly dish up.

In fairness to the All Black selectors, Sione hasn’t figured in their plans for some time.  A modicum of fitness is expected for professional sports athletes.

Still, like a number of players who have earned their jersey under the new professional game, it’s still a black jersey and he will always be an All Black.

Clearly, he will also be a dickhead.

If Jesse is getting support from Alcoholics Anonymous – and let’s hope he’s getting some support somewhere along the way, then Sione must surely be crying out for a visit from someone at Dickheads Anon.

What worries me the most about this situation is that Sione – like some of his mates in the black jersey – is that they just don’t seem to learn.

And if they’re not learning, then what is the NZRFU doing about preventing this type of situation?

Again, it’s a moot point as to whether these people are role models.  Unless of course you are a dickhead.

But it’s time sponsors and others hanging off the jockstraps start demanding the level of dedication and professionalism people like this can be expected to deliver given their pay packet.

Still, it just shows that regardless of your pay, the colour of your jersey, and how many tests you’ve played, you just can’t stop some people from being dickheads.

Now let’s acknowledge that on the surface he appears to have done a great job bringing a new franchise into a competitive competition.

He also managed to get the AB’s to within one game of the RWC Final which compares favourably with the current coach!

But it is also obvious that that Mitch may have some nous when it comes to rugby and rugby tactics but not when it comes to dealing with people.

In many respects, even allowing for the end of the world scenes we saw in 2007, Mitchell got treated worse than Henry.

“Mitch-speak” and an unwillingness to suck up to the sponsors and supporters torpedoed his AB career.

And it looks like he will be working over-time to keep his current job based on the issues that have emerged in WA.

As rugby becomes more professional, there is a growing expectation that those who are paid to do the job are more professional.

Mitchell’s treatment of sponsors and supporters was deserving of the sack – afterall, in a professional environment, it is the punters and sponsors who front up with the money that ends up in the back pockets of the players and the coaching staff.

The failure of the players to live up to reasonable expectations of professional behaviour is a separate issue!

The jury appears to be out on Mitchell at present.  What is clear is that there are still issues and at the very time when players and coaching staff should be focusing on the upcoming season, other issues will be tearing them apart.

The question would then have to be – who would employ Mitchell based on his CV?