Raiders veteran Sia Soliola has provided a simple nugget of sage wisdom for his NRL playing contemporaries in the wake of Paul Vaughan's sacking by the St George Illawarra Dragons.
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"We understand our responsibility as players, we just really can't afford to be putting the game at risk when we're doing things like that," Soliola said.
Vaughan's clandestine soiree cost the former Raiders prop his job, and a $50,000 fine. All up, the NRL slugged Vaughan and 12 of his reveling teammates more than $300,000.
But it could've cost the NRL its season.
How must the Warriors players feel? Those who have sacrificed family and friends back home in New Zealand for a second-straight season just to allow the NRL to continue.
Or what about young Raider Semi Valemei? He still hasn't met his baby daughter in Fiji, unable to travel back home due to the continuing Covid pandemic.
"It's always hard to see when things like that happen within different clubs - it is tough to watch and read," Soliola said.
"The NRL, given the outcome of what's happened at the Dragons, have made a huge statement towards everybody that trying to do these things are unacceptable within our game.
"We're trying to continue with our game without any risks."
Soliola and his Raiders teammates have entered their second week back in the oppressive NRL bubble, like everyone else in the league.
Canberra operated within the bubble as well as any club last season, despite the fact it meant an exhausting schedule of same-day travel for away games and a mileage count rivaling most fly-in-fly-out mine workers.
It's hardly ideal, but it's the only way the NRL can continue while Sydney is in lockdown.
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"For us it's quite an easy adjustment, we couldn't have got it any worse than what we did last year," Soliola said.
"We did have a little bit of warning, prior to when everything went in so we were pretty prepared.
"Here in Canberra it's not too bad, given the conditions are starting to drop now. No better place to be than indoors next to the heater."
Said Soliola as Canberra experienced its coldest day in more than a decade.
That same-day travel returns on Thursday, with the Raiders flying to Sydney in the early afternoon ahead of their clash with the high-flying Manly Sea Eagles. Soon after full time the squad will jump back on a chartered flight and return to the capital.
Coach Ricky Stuart has been forced to make four changes from Saturday's heavy home loss to the lowly Gold Coast Titans.
"In these types of situations where there's a little bit of a shuffle, [you have] got to keep things really simple," Soliola said.
"We've got to stay positive. We've left last week behind us, we understood what happened, we can't repeat another one of them again, we need to restore some pride back within the jersey.
"We just focus on the attitude part of things and I think that's where we probably let ourselves down a little bit. You can discuss all the technical and all the detailed aspects of thing but it came down to the want and that's the really disappointing part."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
