Cipriani

[lily]

I just saw a story on Danny that said his ban continues until after the SA trip. For mine this is player power gone mad.
His behaviour may be problematic but the Rebels are better with him. He and Kingi are 2 blokes in their very early 20s. Can you remember how responsible you were, I for one wasn't.
I know they have a professional obligation but seriously, Cipriani is a backpacker who lives in Melbourne. He's in Sydney and remember he had just been dropped. As if you would put these draconian laws in place. Remember that the senior members of this playing group are all in their mid thirties and have nothing in common with his generation.
I'm not an apologist for his bad behaviour but 3 weeks is a little bit too much in my belief.
I have a feeling that someone doesn't want to honour his 2 year contract and is trying to make him quit.

 

[Brumbies Guy]

I just saw a story on Danny that said his ban continues until after the SA trip. For mine this is player power gone mad.
His behaviour may be problematic but the Rebels are better with him. He and Kingi are 2 blokes in their very early 20s. Can you remember how responsible you were, I for one wasn't.
I know they have a professional obligation but seriously, Cipriani is a backpacker who lives in Melbourne. He's in Sydney and remember he had just been dropped. As if you would put these draconian laws in place. Remember that the senior members of this playing group are all in their mid thirties and have nothing in common with his generation.
I'm not an apologist for his bad behaviour but 3 weeks is a little bit too much in my belief.
I have a feeling that someone doesn't want to honour his 2 year contract and is trying to make him quit.

It was his second offense for the exact same thing. 3 weeks is spot on for me.

 

[Tahfan]

So do you think Carney didn't deserve to be banned by the roosters either? At the end of the day these guys are professional athletes who have to fit into a team ethos. If the guy has lost the support of his team mates he is gone plain and simple. Cipriani is an amazing talent but unless he learns to curb his activities off the pitch (like Beale has) he wont ever realise his potential.

BTW this is not a rugby players can't have a drink rant but look at how much trouble and negative headlines Cipriani has caused since he has been there. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Rebels should go for Michalak for next season. Think he would bring a lot more.

 

[Epi]

He went out for a drink after a game with no behavior related issues (that I know of) and no training the next day...

Flushing our season down the drain by leaving him out of the SA tour without a suitable replacement is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Not happy.

 

[Epi]

BTW this is not a rugby players can't have a drink rant but look at how much trouble and negative headlines Cipriani has caused since he has been there. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Rebels should go for Michalak for next season. Think he would bring a lot more.

If it wasn't for DC most people down here would still be unaware Melbourne had a team..

 

[Brumbies Guy]

He went out for a drink after a game with no behavior related issues (that I know of) and no training the next day...

The issue was that every player after the Waratahs game were asked specifically not to go out as they had a short turnaround for their game the next week and the Rebels did not want to hinder recovery, which he blatantly ignored.

 

[lily]

He stole a bottle of piss earlier in the year and then he broke an agreement that would have been thrust upon the younger members of the squad by the senior members.
To compare him to Todd Carney is a bit off for me. Todd Carney has been locked up, I dont think Danny Cipriani has.
Also lets remember that Cipriani has suffered from depression for quite some time and he only in the last year has learnt that his missus was actually sleeping with his mate and her child is not his. This news delivered after he thought that they had reconciled.
Good riddance to bad rubbish is a little harsh for me.
I will once again say his behaviour needs to improve but I also think that there is alot more to this story than any of us know.

 

[biggsy]

I was talking to John "Knuckles" Connolly at our old boys Rugby lunch, and what they got up to back in the old days....Funny stuff and would been a lot of fun...but the players today, would get a life bands..... But also back then the game was not professional... Harsh,maybe but that must be the Rebels way.

 

[Gnostic]

Shit happens Lily. When it happens you can moan and whinge about it, go and get on the piss and play up if you want. Just bear in mind that what ever choices you make you have to live with the results of them.

I was a big piss head when I was his age, and while not a pro-sportsman, I was a Uni Student. The depth of my pissedness should become readily apparent when the consequences of my behaviour were my expulsion from the Residential colleges and probation for the term of my degree, even though I was a High Distinction/Distinction class student. My actions, my problem and I fixed it by going cold turkey and not drinking for the next 4 years. These blokes should be treated no differently to the rest of us. BTW I now work on a number of sites that require Zero Blood alcohol and zero exposure to illicit or prescription drugs as a term of my contracts. Breach and I'm gone, no appeals, no second or third or fourth chances or crying that I have an alcohol problem etc etc.

Go and have a read of Wil Carling's interview on the subject of Cipriani and you get a picture of a bloke always on the edge of doing something to get him kicked out of whatever team he is part of.

 

[Victorian Reds Fan]

I would have Huxley ahead of Crapriani at 10 anyway.

 

[Gnostic]

I think you'd be on your own there. Cipriani is a great talent and his one huge failing is his defence which is from what I can see an attitude issue. If he makes a committment and throws everything he has into the game I am positive that Macqueen et al could fix this to a large degree and would could see him go on to play again for England. At this rate I wonder if he will be playing Super Rugby next year at all.

 

[lily]

I am aware of the spray that Carling gave him. I seem to remember that he had a couple of off field drama's as well.

 

[Epi]

I think you'd be on your own there.

+1

 

[rugbysmartarse]

While I'd be miffed if I was a rebels fan, obviously McQueen is trying to stamp a culture onto a new club. His "no dickheads" policy is spot on IMO

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

As Gnostic alluded to, there are rules in many workplaces and in some of them, any piss at all and you get run off. One of my former employers was absolutely emphatic about it. I think Cips is a terrific footballer and probably a decent bloke to go with it, but his team has rules that he has agreed to abide by. If this was the first offence, I'd agree that it was harsh. But a new club in a new city needs to be squeaky clean and he must have known that before going to Melbourne and especially before playing for MacQueen (who I would imagine takes a dim view of this kind of thing).

 

[qwerty51]

He never consumed alcohol during work hours, it was on his off time which yes was still governed by whatever agreement they had but it sounds like a ridiculous pact in the first place.

 

[canowindra]

If Cipriani has been suffering from depression, then the last thing he should be doing is drinking. I feel very sorry for the young man; he seems to be learning his life lessons so publicly. Hopefully he has a support system in place and that loneliness isn't an issue for him. In saying that, he is not a child and would have known that there are consequences to his actions.

 

[fatprop]

He never consumed alcohol during work hours, it was on his off time which yes was still governed by whatever agreement they had but it sounds like a ridiculous pact in the first place.

I remember an interview with Jose Mourinho when he was with Chelsea talking about their drinking culture. He explained that going out on the piss after a game is the worst time as it slowed injury recovery (increases bleeding into damaged muscles (?)).

With the Rebels on a 6 day turn around, it made sense to keep recovery and future performance in focus.

 

[FiveStarStu]

Having met him a couple of times, Danny seems like a nice, polite young man. The messages the Rebels are trying to get through to him, however, don't seem to be registering.

It could very well be depression, in which case the Rebels will need to take a different approach.

In general, though, the team's trying to build a culture. If you blatantly disregard a team order, you get punished. Seems fair.

 

[Alex-A]

It could very well be depression, in which case the Rebels will need to take a different approach.

I dont think its quite right to suggest depression until he suggests it! I have met him a few times, and have a couple of mutual friends of his in England, I don't think he is the depressive type.

I do think that a 3 week ban issued by rebels management does seem odd. Your club should attempt to defend you from the public as much as possible and McQueen has stated how they have intended to keep him under the radar. So whats going on??? issuing a 3 week ban raises many questions for the media and can only be damaging to Danny's morale. I can't see this ban being a benefit to anyone, Rebs or Cippers.