Young Manly NRL star Liam Knight has put himself in pole position for the 2016 Frownlow Medal after being caught drink driving and speeding.
The 21 year old recorded mightily impressive statistics of 137km/h in a 70km/h zone and a blood alcohol reading of 0.176.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. The first medal was awarded to Sydney Roosters and New Zealand representative Shaun Kenny-Dowall in 2015.
“I was trying to match it with the big boys” commented Knight outside court.
“I’m busting to play first grade, so I had to show the players and the coach that I can do just what first grade players do.”
“If you’re fair dinkum about footy, its all about positive ratios in training. So drinking 12 drinks in 9.5 hours is like lifting more than your own body weight. Plus the conditioning coach is always pushing us really hard and telling us to reach KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) by tracking us with the GPS, so I wanted to post impressive figures on the police tracking device too.”
Knight attempted to explain his speeding, while still on P Plates, by arguing that the club mentors, including former great and Frownlow Hall of Fame nominee John Hopoate, are constantly encouraging him to ignore the constraints of his rookie status and act like a fully fledged member of the club.
The former U/20 NSW Origin representative also cited another reason for his actions.
“I did it for the Blues.”
“QLD are always beating NSW lately and I’m sick of it. They even had eight young players nominated for The Frownlow Medal this year for breaking curfew and before me, NSW had none, so I put my hand up for the young NSW Origin players.”
First published in April 2016.
Image: Nuna
The Frownlow Medal 