{"id":386983,"date":"2024-04-22T01:05:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T01:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=386983"},"modified":"2024-04-22T02:03:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T02:03:07","slug":"gal-the-spray-i-copped-that-knights-goose-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=386983","title":{"rendered":"Gal: The spray I copped that Knights 'goose' needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

NRL great<\/em><\/strong> PAUL GALLEN<\/em><\/strong><\/a> 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 LIVE at 7.30pm on 9Now tonight or watch at 9.45pm (AEST) following a bumper round seven!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack Hetherington has all the attributes to be an incredible rugby league player, and I've said previously he could play State of Origin<\/a> at some point in his career.<\/p>\n

But he needs to stop acting like a goose, or it could ruin any chance of him realising that potential.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Knights firebrand suspended over ugly tunnel stoush\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Made my blood boil': Ricciardo lashes F1 upstart<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Disappointing' Olyroos fail to qualify for Olympics<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

And I can speak from experience, because I was doing the same sort of stuff early in my NRL<\/a> career.<\/p>\n

The difference was I pulled my head in after one meeting made me realise I needed to change.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

I used to be a hothead on the field and I was giving away too many penalties, getting sent off the field and getting suspended for my actions.<\/p>\n

It was costing myself and my team – and our coach Ricky Stuart had enough of it.<\/p>\n

He invited me to the house of Ron Massey so I could meet the legend.<\/p>\n

What I thought was going to be an exciting meeting, turned out to be Massey absolutely giving me both barrels over my behaviour on the field for Cronulla.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Given my attitude at the time I felt like I wanted to swing a punch at him, and I ended up storming out of Massey's home without even saying goodbye.<\/p>\n

Ricky pulled me aside and told me I should listen to what Massey said and learn a lesson from it, and he threatened to stop picking me in the Sharks team if I didn't get my act together.<\/p>\n

Luckily, once I did calm down and reflect, I decided to completely change my ways and it was the best thing that could have happened to my career.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I'm not saying I was ever an angel on the field, but I learned to control my aggression and make sure I was always putting the team first.\ufeff<\/p>\n

I have no idea if Hetherington has someone in his life who he looks up to, or if he would even listen if someone sprayed him like Massey did to me.<\/p>\n

\ufeffBut if he doesn't change, he will continue to harm himself and his team with these stupid decisions that keep getting him penalised and suspended.<\/p>\n

He's only played 70-odd games in the NRL and has already been sent off or sin-binned seven times, and has now accumulated more than 15 weeks in suspensions.\ufeff<\/p>\n

I'm not trying to have a personal dig at the bloke – I've never met him, and for all I know he could be a great guy off the field.<\/p>\n

All I can judge him on is what I see on the field, and while he seems to have a lot of talent and ability, he needs to pull his head in.<\/p>\n

If he does eventually learn to channel his aggression he could become a really, really good forward.<\/p>\n

\"Hetherington<\/p>\n

He's strong, has good footwork and is surprisingly quick for a big man.<\/p>\n

And he's tough, but – like I learned – being an NRL player isn't just about being tough. It's about being smart as well.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffWhat happened between he and Bulldogs hooker Reed Mahoney on Sunday should just never happen.<\/p>\n

I'm a big believer in what happens on the footy field should stay on the field.<\/p>\n

If you get sent to the sin bin, you don't wait around in the tunnel to try fight the bloke.<\/p>\n

It's hard to tell if Hetherington was being serious when he shaped up to Mahoney and then shoved him, but either way it's not a smart thing to do.<\/p>\n

\ufeffAnd for a guy with his history already, you can't afford to risk a suspension just because you got annoyed by something that happened on the field.<\/p>\n

Hopefully he learns to control himself better because if he does, I reckon we will see a really good player in years to come.\ufeff<\/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":386985,"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\/386983"}],"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=386983"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":386988,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386983\/revisions\/386988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/386985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=386983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=386983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=386983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}