{"id":301582,"date":"2023-05-29T02:57:02","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T02:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301582"},"modified":"2023-05-29T03:59:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T03:59:14","slug":"nrl-paid-gal-for-dirty-origin-deed-that-wont-happen-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301582","title":{"rendered":"NRL paid Gal for dirty Origin deed that won't happen again"},"content":{"rendered":"

NRL great PAUL GALLEN will appear on Nine's 100% FOOTY every Monday night of the NRL season, debating rugby league's hottest topics alongside Phil Gould and James Bracey. Tune in tonight at 10.30pm (AEST) following a bumper round 13!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\ufefft's a shame players don't take it upon themselves much these days to fuel the State of Origin<\/a> rivalry and really promote games.<\/p>\n

But I also can't say I blame them, to be honest.<\/p>\n

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\ufeffWhen then-NRL<\/a> boss Dave Smith came to me before the 2015 game two in Melbourne and offered to pay me to pump it up in order to sell more tickets, it was a pretty easy thing to do. We ended up having about 92,000 at the MCG.<\/p>\n

I didn't have to \ufefflie or make anything up, I honestly just spoke my mind. It was the same when I called Queenslanders "two-heads" in 2014, and it sparked a rush of ticket sales to the Suncorp Stadium game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I had a financial incentive – at least I did in 2015 – but what is the motivation these days for someone like Jarome Luai<\/a> to put his neck on the line?<\/p>\n

Every time a footy player says what they think they are immediately torn down by people on social media, and by some members of the actual media, too.<\/p>\n

\ufeffWe have a lot of great personalities in rugby league but we don't allow them to be themselves.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 State of Origin series LIVE and exclusive on Channel 9 and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I cop it all the time from punters on social media but do you know how many people have ever approached me and said something to my face? None.<\/p>\n

But thanks to social media every man and his dog has the ability to say whatever they like to whoever they want. It's no wonder NRL players can't be bothered saying what they think.<\/p>\n

\"'It's<\/p>\n

\ufeffPlayers nowadays are so accessible to the general public, which is great in many ways but it also makes them easy targets for abuse and criticism.<\/p>\n

What I did in 2014 and 2015 was a long time ago, and I grew up in a different time compared to the guys who play State of Origin now.<\/p>\n

All the players these days read social media. Don't believe them when they say they don't – trust me, they all do.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But it's not just punters on social media having a crack or trying to put players in their box, it's prominent journalists, and even their own coaches, too.<\/p>\n

Coaches seem to think if you say anything about an opposition team or player it will give them extra motivation to perform well.<\/p>\n

Are you serious? If you're a player and you need added motivation for a State of Origin or an NRL game, you're in the wrong job.<\/p>\n

\"Gus'<\/p>\n

\ufeffBut I tell you what – while there's no incentive for players to speak up now, there may be in the future.<\/p>\n

NRL players want to keep earning the big bucks but that will only happen if there are lots of eyeballs watching the sport.<\/p>\n

\ufeffIt's like with boxing – I did so much promotion of my fights because the more people who watched, the more I got paid. To a lesser extent it's the same with NRL players.<\/p>\n

They don't really have to do much promotion at the moment. They get paid really well to basically train and play – which \ufeffI'm not knocking, because it's a tough sport and they deserve the money.<\/p>\n

But if they want to increase the size of the pie they might have to start doing a little more to draw eyeballs to the game.<\/p>\n

Either way, I reckon Wednesday's game at Adelaide Oval will be a sell-out, despite a bit of panic setting in over the weekend.<\/p>\n

I said last week I think they could sell about 10,000 tickets in the last day or two alone before the game.<\/p>\n

I'm expecting a full house, and a cracking contest.\ufeff<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NRL great PAUL GALLEN will appear on Nine's 100% FOOTY every Monday night of the NRL season, debating rugby league's hottest topics alongside Phil Gould […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":301584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301582"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301588,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301582\/revisions\/301588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/301584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=301582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=301582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}