Dragons skipper Ben Hunt insists there’s no tradition downside on the membership and denied ideas there’s a rat amongst the enjoying group after allegations somebody leaked what occurred in Mudgee to members of the media.
St George Illawarra has endured a torrid few years with gamers caught breaking Covid-19 keep at house orders after they had a barbeque that resulted in hefty fines and suspensions being handed down.
Things didn’t get higher when solely a handful of gamers turned as much as final 12 months’s presentation evening after a tricky season that noticed them miss the finals for the fourth 12 months in a row.
Watch each sport of each spherical of the 2023 NRL Telstra Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The membership can be coping with recent controversy with Talatau Amone and Francis Molo each in scorching water off the sector, and that’s on prime of what went down in Mudgee after an embarrassing loss to South Sydney within the Charity Shield.
The incident between Mikaele Ravalawa and Zane Musgrove on the crew’s resort is on the minor finish of the atrocity scale, however followers seem fed up given all the things else that has gone on on the membership.
“I really don’t have a problem with the culture here,” Hunt stated.
“There’s obviously something that happened with a couple of individuals that the club is working on and working with those guys to help them out. On a whole, I don’t think there’s a culture problem.
“There’s a great bunch of fellas here and everyone is working hard every day to be better. Everyone wants to win so I don’t have any issues.
“We had a discussion just as a playing group about the incident and what had happened. We addressed it and said it’s time to move on and focus on rugby league. (We said) that stuff doesn’t happen here anymore and that it’s all about the footy.
“The start of the season couldn’t come quicker for us. We need to get out there and play some games. If we start playing games and winning games then that stuff doesn’t matter.”
Club legend James Graham was irate that the Mudgee incident was leaked to the media, blaming “snitches” for stirring up extra drama.
But Hunt is adamant that there’s no mole on the membership.
“Everything seems to get out these days. It doesn’t matter what happens – you can’t keep it quiet,” he stated.
“I don’t think there’s a mole in the group. I don’t think there’s anyone that’s intentionally gone out and ratted the club out. It’s just something that happens these days.”
The veteran skipper was incredible for the Red V in an in any other case gloomy marketing campaign final 12 months, and he can perceive why followers are “getting a bit restless and a bit annoyed” on the state of issues on the membership.
The 42-24 loss to the Rabbitohs heaped extra stress on coach Anthony Griffin who’s coping with a serious headache as to who companions Hunt within the halves.
Griffin has a bit of additional time to kind it out with the Dragons out of motion in Round 1 because of the bye, and whereas Hunt concedes the Charity Shield wasn’t ok, he says there are positives to take out of the loss.
“What we did out in Mudgee wasn’t great for us, but we believe that’s not what we’re about. I definitely think we’ve got a lot more to offer than what we showed out there,” the halfback stated.
“Through the pre-season, we’ve been building to something really well, so in a way, I’m kind of happy that happened down there. We probably got that game out of our system and know we need to be better now.
“It’s a bit of a wakeup call that games are here now and we need to be better than what we were out there.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
