Off the Wall

At the time of writing the latest allegations against the Raiders half, Todd Carney, are just that - allegations.

But irrespective of the outcome, the fact that players from the Raiders and the Bulldogs are in the spotlight for allegedly disgraceful behaviour when affected by strong drink raises the question why disgraceful behaviour, in the early hours of the morning at nightclubs, continues to be a massive problem for our game?

You would have thought that the publicity these incidents now receive, with camera phone photos, and patrons only too happy to dob in players to the media would have had some impact. Not so it appears.

It must be said that it is difficult to assess whether there are more incidents - or whether it is a case of more being publicised.

But that said the game has a problem of significant proportions - and a problem for which there is clearly no simple solution.

Perhaps one way to find the solution is to look at the cause.

I am sure a major cause, if not the major cause, is that professional rugby league players have too much disposable money, and too much spare time to spend it.

The transition from a game that was professional, but in one in which many players still held part time employment, to one in which virtually every player is fulltime, came very rapidly in the mid-1990