By Casey O'Connor
FREE TIMES SPORTS COLUMNIST CASEY O’CONNOR IS BACK SHARING HIS THOUGHTS ON SPORT – DURING COVID-19…
All NRL fans will be breathing a sigh of relief this week as clubs and players get down to training. For some it means a significant sacrifice. For others it will be an irritation and inconvenience to comply with the rules (all 40 plus pages of them). If the recent form of a few knuckle heads is anything to go by we are likely to see a few slips along the way but hopefully no landslides.
Peter V’Landys has certainly demonstrated from the outset of this crisis that he was the right man in the right place for Rugby League. Todd Greenberg was on a shaky footing for what seemed to be a long time and while many thought he had done a great job and was a good bloke history may not reflect those sentiments.
Acting NRL CEO Andrew Abdo looked to have the inside running for Greenberg’s vacant chair. There is now a school of thought that his chances may have been cruelled after he slapped Latrell Mitchell, Josh Ado Carr and Nathan Cleary with a limp lettuce leaf after they thumbed their noses at the social distancing regulations we have all been living with.
For those who think their punishment was a little too harsh spare a thought for the Queensland apprentice jockey who was slapped with a six-month disqualification for breaching Queensland Racing’s COVID-19 zoning regulations. Zoe White who appealed the decision had her disqualification halved by the Queensland Racing Integrity Unit after an internal review. She will serve three months and will be eligible to return to riding on July 1.
The apprentice believed she was not guilty of breaching quarantine rules but was guilty of misunderstanding a steward’s directive.
No suspended sentences or suspended fines in the racing industry no matter who you are. One of Gai Waterhouse’s most trusted employees, Neil Paine, copped a one-month ban from attending race meetings after breaching coronavirus protocols after he ran across the mounting yard and hugged trainer Adrian Bott after their horse Farnan bolted to victory in the world’s richest two-year-old race, the Golden Slipper, last month.
While jockeys, trainers and some sections of the industry cop their fair share of flack the one thing they do know about is discipline. It takes plenty of discipline to rise every morning at 3.00am and start work no matter what the conditions. For a jockey, plenty of discipline is needed to think about food and then deny you are hungry to give yourself a chance of making some unrealistic weight in the hope of maybe riding a winner.
Few trainers or jockeys reach the lofty heights of the industry superstars and even then those that do might not ever see the pay cheques that some of our rugby league players receive. Peter V’Landys also wears the hat of the Racing NSW Chief Executive and board member. No doubt right at the moment he would love to engender some of that racing discipline into our rugby league players.
Casey
