Attention athletes - you no longer have the right to downtime unless you're winning.
Does that sound like an overreaction to you? It sure does to me but that's the message some are trying to preach to Warriors Konrad Hurrell, Dominique Peyroux and Manu Vatuvei for having the gall to go to a concert two days before yet another NRL belting.
The Warriors deserve to be under pressure. Their on-field performances over the past seven weeks have been among the worst I've seen in 15 seasons of covering rugby league for a profession.
Their extensive injury list isn't an excuse for the type of defeats they've suffered.
They've brought much of it on themselves with scorelines that would embarrass even the most one-eyed of supporters, but the media criticism of the trio for heading to a concert on Friday night before their Sunday afternoon match is just a case of Warrior bashing.
Would this have been an issue had they won? No chance. In fact, extra-curricular activities are a common occurrence among many athletes, both successful and otherwise, throughout the year.
The equivalent of this is saying that if you're under the pump at work and not performing to your best, then you shouldn't do any social activity on Saturday night before you have to show up to work on Monday.
If you're under pressure in your job, should you go directly home after your shift, lock the door and not socialise? Do nothing to take your mind off things for a moment?
"They should be focusing on football" is the argument thrown out. Do the people who level that criticism ever take a break from their jobs outside of work hours? If they're not turning up to training or putting in an effort, then they will be punished and rightfully so.
Some people are reclusive and lock themselves away. Others need interaction and the chance to change their focus.
A heap of league players don't watch a lot of NRL, they want to have other distractions in their spare time. Does that mean they're not committed to their job?
For the Warriors, Saturday was a travel day to Sydney, followed by a light run, then game day on Sunday.
Now, had this been the night before a match then they're fair game. There hasn't been any suggestion they were drunk or acting inappropriately - if either was the case it's a different conversation.
It's a concert, everyone chill. They're not getting things right on the field and their supporter base are entitled to answers. They need to do some things differently and a lot of things better.
Konrad Hurrell is a magnet for these types of debates. Had Hurrell and Vatuvei not shared this on social media, there would be no headline now. In an era when athletes are giving less and less of themselves to the public, all this does is encourage less engagement with the fans.
There is a long list of questions the Warriors need to front up on but this concert really shouldn't be one of them.
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