Former NRL player Luke Goodwin strenuously denies breaking into The Fronwlow Medal Hall of Fame, insisting that someone else did it on his behalf.
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. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while NRL player Manase Fainu is the most recent recipient.
The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame honours former players and players who received media attention in previous seasons, for similarly scandalous behaviour, and its inductees include Ben Cousins and Julian O’Neill.
Goodwin was linked to a recent unlawful entry into the most hallowed ground in Australian sport, and is currently assisting police with their enquiries. The former player was suspected because of a previous incident involving a bank robbery in 2002.
On that occasion, Goodwin was found guilty of supplying keys to robbers who then broke into a National Australia Bank branch in Sydney in 2002. Goodwin took the keys from the handbag of his wife, who worked at the bank, and gave them to two thieves who allegedly committed two armed robberies. According to police, 302,500 was stolen during the August 2002 armed hold-up and $150,000 in October of that year.
But all did not go according to plan.
Goodwin apparently arranged for the hold-up to take place when his wife was not working, but on that day, he received a call from his wife in distress.
She was working, and was caught in the hold up.
“I felt pretty ordinary even speaking to Jeanette as I knew that the robbery that I had helped organise had just happened,” Goodwin said in a police statement. For his trouble, Goodwin was then received a bag containing $30,000 to $35,000 from the robbers, and was promised about $50,000 in total for the job.
Fortunately for Goodwin, his wife has no connection with The Fronwlow Medal Hall of Fame.
Goodwin blamed financial problems at home for his involvement in the robberies in 2002, but had a different motivation for the recent trespass of the hall of fame.
“I asked the boys to pick out a good slot for me in the hall of fame, so I could claim it before anyone else got it. I wasn’t after money or anything, because a spot in the hall of fame is worth more than money, it’s priceless.
I wanted to see if I could get a spot beside Andrew Johns or Darren Lockyer, or one of the true legends of rugby league. I mean, they’re just heroes to every footy player so to have my photo up beside them would be amazing.”
The former Bulldogs, Panthers, Eels and Raiders player will have to wait until the end of the year to find out if he has done enough to earn a spot in The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame, alongside his heroes.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 