Jordan De Goey’s vital new role at the Pies.

Jordan De Goey has a new clause in his contract with Collingwood FC in 2022, and it requires him to win The Frownlow Medal. De Goey almost lost his contract and career after assault charges in the USA, but has been welcomed back to the Magpies on the condition that he brings the award to the famous club.

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 star Jarryd Hayne 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.

“Jordan is our best chance ever to win The Frownlow Medal,” said a club spokesperson. “That is why we went to such great lengths to rescue him from the US legal system and renew his contract. The new clause has been added and agreed to, and we are certain Jordan will do everything he can to win the medal.”

De Goey was charged with assault after an incident in a bar in New York in 2021, but the assault charges were downgraded to second-degree harassment, to which he has now pleaded guilty.

“I’ve promised the club I’ll win them the Frownlow this year,” stated De Goey on his first day back at training.

“I know I can do it. I mean, I’ve never raped anyone like Jarryd (Hayne), but I’ve been nominated almost 10 times over 5 years. Mate, I got nominated three times last year because that’s how much I want this medal, and I want to do it for the club. I love the club, I love the boys. Plus, I had to promise I’d win the Pies the medal when they bailed me out of jail in the states, so, yeah, I owe them big time.”

The most hated club in Aussie Rules has supplied many nominees, including the famous Rat Pack of Ben Johnson, Alan Didak and Dane Swan, but even they couldn’t win the medal. The club itself was nominated after numerous racism controversies, and club legends such as Damian Monkhorst, Nathan Buckley and Brian Taylor have all been in contention for the award.

More than 16 Collingwood players have been nominated for the medal or the hall of fame, and even Eddie McGuire would have been nominated if he’d played AFL, especially after what he said about Adam Goodes.

“…we even recruited (swimmer) Grant Hackett in 2016 when he got stupidly drunk on a plane beside one of our executives. That’s how desperate we are to win this medal, and why we welcomed Jordan back into the club.”

Collingwood is also determined to wrestle the medal back from the NRL, which has won it six out of seven times, and which stole the prize back from the AFL after Elijah Taylor won it in 2020.

De Goey has been nominated, and incurred fines or suspensions, for incidents such as alleged assault, drink driving, fighting in a nightclub, inuring his hand, lying about it to the media and forcing his coach to repeat the lie, and now for second-degree harassment.

What will he do in 2022?

Image: Getty Images

Jamil Hopoate wins a Wife Beater Tattoo.

Jamil Hopoate is the latest footballer to win The Frownlow Medal Wife Beater Tattoo after pleading guilty to assaulting his partner. Hopoate should be behind bars but avoided the sentence because he contracted COVID-19, and is now the only person in the world to celebrate catching the disease.

The Wife Beater Tattoo combines two of the great loves of many professional footballers: tattoos and mistreating women.

The former NRL player and son of John Hopoate pleaded guilty to the assault of his partner, which occurred in front of a child, at the Panthers Port Macquarie club in December 2020, and was sentenced to a 12-month sentence to be served in the community by way of an intensive corrections order. He pleaded guilty to seven offences, including two counts of common assault – domestic violence related, one count of common assault, two counts of stalking/intimidation, as well as driving without a license and mid-range drinking driving.

During court proceedings, Jamil’s lawyer blamed his actions on the pressure of living up to the name of his father, who played representative NRL, but is more famous for countless on-field and off-field scandals. John was inducted into The Fronwlow Medal Hall of Fame in 2016, and Jamil followed him in 2021.

Jamil’s brother, Will, also played NRL and avoided any form of controversy during a career in which he represented NSW. Will only drew attention to himself when he took time out of the game, at the height of his powers, to carry out a religious mission. Jamil and Will grew up under the same roof.

Jamil’s lawyer said:

“It’s a hard thing to be told he will not play and not achieve the same level as his father and his brother. This caused issues and he responded inappropriately.”

Does this justify assaulting a woman?

Image: NuNa

Who is in contention for The Frownlow Medal in 2022?

2022 is just more than a week old but already a handful of footballers are in contention for The Fronwlow Medal.

Tristan Sailor leads a group of fellow NRL players who have been nominated for various offences which occurred in 2021 or earlier. Sailor was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2020 and is still waiting for the courts to determine his guilt or innocence.

During the time Sailor spent with the woman at the Beach Road Hotel in Bondi and at her home, he is accused of giving the alleged victim a sedative. He then allegedly assaulted the woman before discarding her in a state that was described as ‘extremely vulnerable’. The woman was reportedly found unconscious by her friend.

Interestingly, a number of former NRL players provided affidavits to police in support of the rising star, including his former coach Paul McGregor and rugby league immortal Darren Lockyer, both of whom have been nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame for offences related to alcohol abuse. The same Darren Lockyer who earned one of his Frownlow nominations for joking about the Canterbury Bulldogs gang rape scandal in 2004.

The talented half was left without a club for 2021 after the St George-Illawarra Dragons decided not to renew his contract, and the outcome of his court case may determine whether he plays professional football ever gain. He qualifies for The Frownlow Medal because he was playing in the NRL at the time of the alleged incident.

Sailor’s fellow nominees are all rugby league players.

Anthony Milford also allegedly can’t keep his hands off women. Just after signing with the South Sydney Rabbitohs for the 2022 season, he was charged with three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of wilful damage.

Milford is alleged to have become involved in an argument with his wife, and mother of his young child, as well as other people. He is said to have fled the scene. Police then hunted him though the streets of Fortitude Valley and arrested him, before making him spend the night in a police cell.

Milford was previously nominated for ‘liking’ Israel Folau’s famous homophobic social media post, and in previous years was nominated for a drunken incidents at the Canberra Raiders, and for breaking team curfew with the Queensland State of Origin team.

The alleged incident occurred near a nightclub called Ella Sabe, Spanish for She Knows. What does she know?

Tui Kamikamica has been stood down by the Melbourne Storm after being charged with assault occasioning bodily harm following the alleged incident in Fortitude Valley, and is accused of assaulting a 30-year-old woman.

Thus, three rugby league players currently under investigation for allegedly assaulting women.

Manase Fainu is still in contention for The Frownlow Medal as he awaits the outcome of the court case surrounding an alleged stabbing outside a Mormon church dance in 2019.

Fainu has been charged with various offences, including affray and intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and the matter is still under investigation. The promising young hooker was also nominated for Frownlow honours in 2018, after filming himself and a young woman having sex and posting the film to social media without the girl’s permission.

Zane Musgrove has collected yet another Frownlow nomination in 2022, and yet another last chance in the NRL. This time he was nominated for allegedly driving on a suspended license.

Will one of these players win The Frownlow Medal in 2022?

Image: NuNa

How Blake Ferguson can benefit from his recent arrest.

Former NRL player Blake Ferguson has positioned himself perfectly for a role on an Australian reality TV show after losing his rugby contract due to drug and assault charges.

Almost every former footballer who has appeared on an Aussie reality TV shows in recent years has committed some form of scandal and been nominated for The Frownlow Medal and/or The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.

Ferguson was recently arrested for alleged possession of cocaine and alleged assault at a red light district in Tokyo. The incidents cost him his contract with Japanese rugby union club NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu, and he may struggle to play professional football ever again.

The former NSW and Australia winger would join a long list of disgraced and scandal-prone footballers to have appeared on Aussie TV screens in recent years after being nominated for Frownlow honours.

Former AFL player Dayne Beams appeared on Celebrity Big Brother. Earlier in 2021, fellow AFL player Heath Shaw, and disgraced NRL star Sam Burgess, appeared on SAS Australia.

Footballers are of particular interest to competitive shows which reward backstabbing, cheating, stealing, lying, conniving, manipulation, betrayal…and an inflated ego. Other footballers who have appeared on reality TV shows and been nominated for Frownlow honours in recent years include:

Brian Lake (AFL) – Survivor

Sam Thaiday (NRL) – Parental Guidance, Celebrity Come Dine With Me

Robert ‘Dipper’ Dipierdomenico – Excess Baggage, Celebrity Dog School

I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here

Anthony Mundine (NRL)

Barry Hall (AFL) (runner-up)
Brendan Fevola (AFL) – Winner Season Two
Dane Swan (AFL) (runner-up)
Billy Brownless (AFL)

Hall is set to appear on another show in 2022, in the latest series of SAS Australia, alongside fellow AFL legend Wayne Carey. Meanwhile, former NRL player Beau Ryan, and Collingwood hero Nathan Buckley, participated in I’m A Celebrity Get me Out of Here.

Who knows, if Ferguson’s partner finally tires of his off-field antics, he could even star in The Bachelor or Ex on the Beach.

Image: Getty Images

How good is Zane Musgrove?

If you’re good enough, you get away with anything.

This must be true of Zane Musgrove. The NRL player has just been nominated for The Fronwlow Medal for the fourth time and has been given a chance at redemption on every previous occasion.

Musgrove is either very good at rugby league, or very good at finding a lawyer. He earned Frownlow nominations in 2018, 2019 and 2021, and was recently charged with driving with a suspended license. Late in 2021, police stopped Musgrove for driving without lights in Maroubra, and further checks revealed he was driving while his license was suspended.

The Samoa international has been given many second chances throughout his career, and he must be enormously talented if clubs are willing to take such a risk in signing him.

In 2018, he had an argument with his girlfriend and faced charges of common assault, common assault domestic violence related, and intentionally or recklessly destroy/damage property. He pleaded not guilty and the violence charges were withdrawn by prosecutors. He was found guilty of property damage and fined about $1,500. He was given a conditional release order and required to be on good behaviour.

Shortly after this incident, he was charged with allegedly assaulting a woman at the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney. In January 2019, he pleaded not guilty to aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and common assault. He was forced to sit out the entire 2019 NRL season as a result of the charges, and was eventually found guilty of assault with an act of indecency and sentenced to a 12-month intensive corrections order in late 2019.

This is where his lawyer earned his money.

In April 2020, Musgrove had his assault conviction from 2019 overturned by the court.

During these incidents, Musgrove left South Sydney, where he had already been given a second chance, and was later offered a contract at Wests Tigers, on another second chance.

How good is Musgrove?

Is he good enough to be one of the best props in the game?

Is he good enough to warrant so many second chances?

Is he good enough to finally win The Frownlow Medal?

Image: http://www.nrl.com

Curtis Scott nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.

Former NRL player Curtis Scott has been nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame after being arrested and charged with historic alleged domestic violence offences.

Scott was charged with two counts of intentionally choke person with recklessness, two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm (domestic), and three counts of common assault (DV), for incidents which are alleged to have occurred in 2018. He has been granted conditional bail and will appear in court soon.

The former premiership winner has now earned nominations for The Fronwlow Medal Hall of Fame and The Frownlow Medal. He first came to the attention of Frownlow judges in 2020, when he was arrested in thrown into jail on Australia Day. He reportedly resisted arrest and allegedly kicked and punched a police officer in the face before being tasered. This happened before he had even played a game for his new club Canberra.

Scott was later awarded $100,000 after it was found that police had wrongly tasered him

In 2021, he did not play in the NRL from Round 12, 2021, after an incident at a Canberra nightclub saw him charged with assault. He was later sanctioned with a $15,000 fine and three-game ban, and eventually the Raiders terminated his contract. He then declared in late 2021 that he had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous and had been seeing a psychologist for treatment.

Scott must now wait for the courts to determine his guilt or innocence on the latest charges, and must wait until the end of the year to find out if he has been inducted into The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.

Image: Getty Images

Why is Latrell so angry?

Latrell Mitchell and his teammates are furious that the NRL’s new COVID-19 restrictions will destroy their chances of winning The Frownlow Medal in 2022.

Mitchell and fellow NRL players lashed out on social media after the NRL announced plans to ban players from venues such as nightclubs, pubs and cinemas in order to avoid the spread of COVID among teams and to keep the competition afloat.

“How are we supposed to win the Frownlow?” Latrell asked angrily.

“Pubs and nightclubs are where we get our nominations and now we can’t visit them. A pub is where I got my first nomination in 2019. Me and the boys went for a few quiet ones at Old Bar Tavern and these random guys picked a fight with us. This rule is a joke!”

NSW Blues teammates and fellow Frownlow nominees Josh Addo-Carr and Jack Wighton joined Mitchell in condemning the new restrictions.

“This is rubbish,” declared Addo-Carr, who earned his first nomination alongside Mitchell in 2020 for a COVID breach in which they rode trail bikes on the beach and shot guns.

“Yeah, we could still ride our bikes and shoot our guns, cos that’s not indoors, but that didn’t win us the medal in 2020 and we can’t just do the same thing again. We need to do something original if we wanna win. How many nominations have come from inside a pub or club? Mate, it’s a deadset stitch up.”

Wighton was also incensed, as he came very close to winning the medal in 2018 after a pub fight earned him a 10-week suspension from the game.

“Footy players go to bars, get drunk or high, or both, then get into fights, urinate in public, harass women and post stupid photos of themselves on social media, and this is how they get nominated. If they take that away from us, we can’t show the Frownlow judges that we’re doing enough to win the medal.”

NRL players were also adamant that the medal must stay within their code after AFL player Elijah Taylor won in 2020. Hayne claimed it back for the NRL in 2021, but the restrictions placed on NRL players may create an unfair advantage for players from the AFL, Super Rugby and A-League.

Meanwhile, NRL players will also have restrictions placed on home gatherings, so Paul Vaughan has put away the BBQ tongs.

Image: Getty Images

Blake Ferguson joins a new club.

Just days after losing his contract with a Japanese rugby club, Blake Ferguson has been admitted into The Frownlow Medal Wife Beaters Club following an incident of assault in 2013.

The former NRL player was recently kicked out of NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu after being arrested for alleged assault and possession of cocaine in Japan, and may struggle to find a new club in either rugby code. However, he has earned lifelong membership of The Frownlow Medal Wife Beaters Club alongside some of the greats of Australian football, and earned himself a coveted Wife Beater Tattoo.

Ferguson was found guilty of groping a young woman in the vagina, without her consent, at a nightclub in Cronulla in 2013. He claimed he had mistaken the victim for another woman, but that claim was dismissed.

The NSW Origin and Kangaroos star joins a long list of outstanding footballers in The Frownlow Medal Wife Beaters Club:

	Name	Code	Teams
1	Elijah Taylor	AFL	Sydney Swans	Frownlow Medallist 2020
2	Nick Stevens	AFL	Carlton Blues, Port Adelaide Power
3	Justin Murphy	AFL	Richmond, Carlton, Geelong, Essendon
4	Liam Jurrah	AFL	Melbourne Demons
5	Robert Lui	NRL	Wests Tigers, North Queensland Cowboys
6	Stuart Webb	NRL	St George Illawarra Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Sydney Roosters
7	Sam Burgess	NRL	South Sydney Rabbitohs
8	Matt Lodge	NRL	Wests Tigers, Brisbane Broncos
9	Scott Bolton	NRL	North Queensland Cowboys
10	Kenny Edwards	NRL	Parramatta Eels
11	Zane Tetevano	NRL	Sydney Roosters, Penrith Panthers, Manly Sea Eagles, Newcastle Knights
12	Ben Barba	NRL	Cronulla Sharks, Canterbury Bulldogs, North Queensland Cowboys
13	Jake Friend	NRL	Sydney Roosters
14	Anthony Watts	NRL	Cronulla Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys
15	Isaac Gordon	NRL	Cronulla Sharks
16	Richie Fa’aoso	NRL	Panthers, Roosters, Eels, Knights, Storm, Sea Eagles
17	Anthony Cherrington	NRL	South Sydney Rabbitohs
18	Addin Fonua-Blake	NRL	Manly Sea Eagles, New Zealand Warriors
19	Kirisome Auva’a	NRL	South Sydney Rabbitohs, Parramatta Eels
20	Greg Inglis	NRL	Melbourne Storm, South Sydney Rabbitohs
21	Ken McGuinness	NRL	Wests Magpies, Wests Tigers, North Queensland Cowboys

22	Craig Wells	Rugby Union	NSW Waratahs, ACT Brumbies, Wallabies
23	Jarryd Hayne	NRL	Parramatta Eels, Gold Coast Titans	Frownlow Medallist 2021

Image: Getty Images

Blake Ferguson redefines the Haiku.

Former NRL player Blake Ferguson has created his own style of haiku in the process of losing his contract with a Japanese rugby union club for alleged drug possession and assault.

Ferguson has also earned a nomination for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame just a few months after leaving the NRL.

NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu issued a 10-word statement to sack Ferguson before he had even played a game for his new club, following allegations that the star winger was caught in possession of cocaine and was arrested for punching a patron at a restaurant in the red light district of Tokyo.

“Regarding Ferguson, the player contract was cancelled on January 2nd,” the club confirmed in a statement on January 3. The statement does not conform to the traditional structure of a haiku, but is only slightly different.

Possession of illicit drugs attracts heavy punishment in Japan, and the former NSW and Australia representative could find himself behind bars for a long time.

It is believed Ferguson is penning his own haiku in response to the allegations. It will need to be good, as he may have destroyed his chances of playing either rugby code at any level in the future. Then again, Izaia Parese was sacked by the Brisbane Broncos for drug possession and he’s now playing for the Wallabies.

Aussie fans of ‘Fergo’ can rest easy knowing that their tax dollars are funding consular assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The premiership winner with the Sydney Roosters took only a few months to earn his first nomination for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame, after numerous nominations for The Frownlow Medal during his NRL career. He was found guilty of indecent assault on a woman in 2013, and has admitted to a gambling addiction. He and his partner in crime, Josh Dugan, also distributed controversial photos of themselves drinking alcohol on social media while playing for the Canberra Raiders.

Footy fans now await the publication of Ferguson’s haiku and look forward to another year of off-field scandals and nominations for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.

Image: NuNa

Jarryd Hayne wins The Frownlow Medal in 2021.

Former NRL player Jarryd Hayne has won The Frownlow Medal in 2021 after being sent to prison for sexually assaulting a woman on NRL Grand Final night in 2018. Hayne saw off the challenge of more than 70 professional footballers to win this year’s medal and is the sixth NRL player to receive the honour.

The former NSW and Australia star was found guilty of raping the woman at her home on the NSW Central Coast, and apparently asked a taxi driver to wait for him while he committed the crime. He was eventually sentenced this year after a lengthy legal process.

Unfortunately for Hayne, he was not able to attend the awards night for The Frownlow Medal and The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame, and he had to accept a replica of the award in the TV room at Cooma Correctional Centre. The replica was made by a fellow inmate out of Play-doh and had to be returned to guards immediately. He will receive the real medal once he is released.

Hayne saw off the challenges of two other NRL players who were accused of the same crime. Rookie Tristan Sailor is yet to have his day in court, and fellow Dragons player Jack de Belin was eventually found not guilty of an incident which occurred in Wollongong. De Belin was also nominated this year for breaching COVID-19 rules to attend Paul Vaughan‘s infamous house party, which earned nominations for 10 other players and created the Matt Dufty Fun Run.

Herstory is made

Nita Maynard became the first woman to be nominated for The Frownlow Medal since the award’s inception in 2015. The NRLW player got into a scuffle with bouncers at Northies after a few too many drinks, and paved the way for Millie Boyle and Deni Varnhagen. Boyle was caught in a toilet tryst with fellow rugby league player and multiple nominee Adam Elliott, while Varnhagen was delisted by the Adelaide Crows AFL club for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.

Frownlow favourites

Jordan de Goey of Collingwood returned for more Frownlow fun, this time earning three nominations in the same year. He edged out 2016 medallist Corey Norman with two nominations, one of which was for a street fight outside Northies alongside his buddy James Segeyaro. Josh Dugan also earned two nominations, and said goodbye to the NRL after doing very little for the Cronulla Sharks all season.

An ugly trend

Yet again footballers were nominated for alleged violence against women. NRL players Tui Kamikamica, Jamil Hopoate and Anthony Milford were all accused of alleged incidents of violence against women, and are set to face court in 2022.

The bizarre

Footballers always provide so much off-field entertainment, and 2021 was no different. NRL player Lachlan Lewis was nominated for stealing club-owned speakers from his COVID-19 hub and trying to sell them online, while Roosters enforcer Victor Radley was fined for tackling someone – no joke. Tom Starling of the Raiders, meanwhile, earned his second nomination in two years, for exactly the same offence, at exactly the same bar, at exactly the same time of year.

Three clubs were nominated this year. Collingwood FC AFL club for services to racism, and NRL clubs Canterbury Bulldogs for COVID-19 breaches, as well as the Penrith Panthers, who destroyed the Summons – Provan trophy while celebrating their Grand Final victory.

NRL players clearly dominated again in 2021. Not one A-League footballer was nominated, only four Super Rugby players were eligible, and the only other significant incident involving an AFL player was Taylor Walker‘s racism and his cringeworthy apology video.

Footballers then partied the night away after the award announcement, while poor Jarryd was sent back to his cell.

Image: Dan Pelad