About the only consistent theme in rugby league at
present is that everything is someone else’s fault. And the weekend just passed was certainly no exception.
The coach’s fault, the referee’s fault, and the fault of rugby league
“culture.”

The last claim was made by Springboks rugby coach,
Jake Smith, in the aftermath of the Wallabies’ losses in South Africa and very
ordinary off-field behaviour by at least four players. The fact that three of the four are ex-league players
has caused the toffee-nosed Springbok coach to claim that the night club
incident – and other off-field misbehaviour in recent years – involving
Australian players was due to the “culture” that league players
brought to rugby union.

And then there is the perennial “blame the referee”
game. This is one I can readily relate to. But is it being overdone as an excuse for teams under performing?

It really is time for players – and officials – to face
up to the fact that most games are won and lost by how the very highly paid
players perform – or don’t perform.

The full story is on the site here.