You could argue the same about Charlie if you wanted to- dubious character / poor judgement blah blah blah. It was a stupid mistake made by a young kid. We all made mistakes / error in judgement when we were kids lets not be too judgmental.
Completely spot on.
Let me add this. I know that the saying goes "past behavior is the most likely indicator of future behavior." However, I fully believe that people can become reformed and improved individuals. I know this to be true because I believe that I am an example of this.
This is something that only one or two posters on here know about me. But it's also why I want to see guys like Charlie and Lachie Whitfield succeed as both players and human beings after careless, reckless mistakes.
When I was living and working in the United States back in the mid-2000s (2005-2007) in exceptionally high level professional sports I suffered a stroke. A combination of bad lifestyle choices and working harder than Alan Bond (upwards of 22 hour work days, 5+ days a week for months on end). I grew up a naive kid who wanted to help
everyone and believed that the only way of a small western suburbs of Melbourne kid succeeding in life was to work as hard as humanly possible. I wanted my reports to be the envy of all of my peers. And they were. I was able to identify talent at an exceptional level. But it came with a massive consequence.
When I got out of hospital it was determined by my support group that I could no longer live out of hotels. At least not until I was fully recovered. I was given a choice to either move back to Australia and recover surrounded by family and friends or to stick with it, move in with people that I did not know and recover until I was good to return to work. I decided that the former was as good as giving up and feared that I would lose the opportunity to return. Thereby, I chose the latter option.
Unfortunately, the people that I chose - based on a recommendation of a peer - to live with were up to no good. Internet based crimes were committed in my name. As I was there 24/7 recuperating I couldn't possibly deny that I was not there at the times that these crimes occurred. My public appointed attorney advised me that given the circumstances that my best bet was to take a plea deal. The plea deal was awful for a first time offender (32+ months inside the state custody) but for someone from overseas to have committed said crimes he told me that was the best that I could hope for (which I now believe to be bullshit but that's besides the point). I took the plea deal. I didn't fight it.
Through the utter stupidity of the people who
did commit the crimes continuing to commit crimes in my name while I was in prison I was released after 24 months and got out of the final 8 months of my sentence. It took
that long for the state to get that stuff sorted.
Although I forfeited over two years of my life to this day I believe that it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I learned so much about life and what it takes to succeed in it. I took every behavior class available for me. I busted my ass in work assignments. I attended various denomination church sessions, not because I'm religious (I'm not really) but because it was an opportunity to learn more about life. Every religion has invaluable lessons that can be imparted upon those willing to learn. I also learned that not everyone in prison, as guilty as they may be of their crime, are necessarily bad people. In fact, some of the best people that I've ever had the privilege of knowing are doing long sentences and some had been there before I was even born (I was in my mid-twenties).
Since prison I have earned three separate university degrees, have contributed to several of my deep seated passions and have done freelance work for companies ranging from sole trading self employed companies and several Fortune 500 corporations. Last week I finally launched Gamephasis and have already secured over 40 different permanent media partners including several of the largest gaming developer and publishers in the world.
I believe that everyone is capable of becoming a high functioning member of society capable of leaving their mark in a multitude of different ways. So what if some players like Charlie Curnow or Whitfield have committed acts that could deem them reprehensible in the scheme of being a professional sportsperson. We cannot control what they've done in the past. We are all equally capable of committing silly, stupid mistakes. What we can control is what we do in the future. If we are committed to creating a positive change in our own lives and living it in a positive manner that contributes to society in some way then that is our function as human beings.
The only people that we should hold in contempt are those who repeatedly make poor decisions and show absolutely no sign of desire in correcting that behavior.
That's my two cents on the matter.
P.S. Sorry for going off-topic as much as I did.