TITAN PETE
06-09-10, 01:34 PM
By Phil Rothfield From: The Daily Telegraph September 06, 2010 12:00AM
EVERYONE makes a mistake and everyone deserves a second chance.
Just ask the three players banned from the NRL last season for off-field misbehaviour who will be playing significant roles over the next month in the race to the grand final.
The Roosters' Todd Carney, the Titans' Greg Bird and the Warriors' Brett Seymour have all made spectacular comebacks this season from the rugby league scrapheap.
Last year their names were mud: Carney for repeated atrocities at the Raiders, Bird for the glassing incident with his girlfriend and Seymour after being filmed staggering down Cronulla Mall in a blithering state.
What a difference 12 months makes.
Carney is now a raging hot favourite to win the Dally M award, Bird is a genuine chance of winning a premiership at the Titans and Seymour has done a marvellous job to steer the Warriors into the finals.
It says a lot for rugby league that all three have been given the chance at redemption.
Rather than throwing them out of the game, the clubs have carefully managed their issues and ensured they stayed on the straight and narrow.
Seymour is the best comeback story of them all. Once rated by Wayne Bennett as one of the best halves in the game, he was dumped by the Broncos and then by the Sharks for behaving disgracefully on the drink.
Only the Warriors showed any interest and signed him on a salary at the lower end of the scale to replace club legend Stacey Jones, otherwise he'd have been playing football in the park.
He, like Carney and Bird, have come a long way to earn their positions in the finals. They've certainly earned it.
EVERYONE makes a mistake and everyone deserves a second chance.
Just ask the three players banned from the NRL last season for off-field misbehaviour who will be playing significant roles over the next month in the race to the grand final.
The Roosters' Todd Carney, the Titans' Greg Bird and the Warriors' Brett Seymour have all made spectacular comebacks this season from the rugby league scrapheap.
Last year their names were mud: Carney for repeated atrocities at the Raiders, Bird for the glassing incident with his girlfriend and Seymour after being filmed staggering down Cronulla Mall in a blithering state.
What a difference 12 months makes.
Carney is now a raging hot favourite to win the Dally M award, Bird is a genuine chance of winning a premiership at the Titans and Seymour has done a marvellous job to steer the Warriors into the finals.
It says a lot for rugby league that all three have been given the chance at redemption.
Rather than throwing them out of the game, the clubs have carefully managed their issues and ensured they stayed on the straight and narrow.
Seymour is the best comeback story of them all. Once rated by Wayne Bennett as one of the best halves in the game, he was dumped by the Broncos and then by the Sharks for behaving disgracefully on the drink.
Only the Warriors showed any interest and signed him on a salary at the lower end of the scale to replace club legend Stacey Jones, otherwise he'd have been playing football in the park.
He, like Carney and Bird, have come a long way to earn their positions in the finals. They've certainly earned it.