{"id":94087,"date":"2021-07-02T05:34:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T05:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=94087"},"modified":"2021-07-02T05:56:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T05:56:49","slug":"inside-warriors-gamble-on-nrl-problem-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=94087","title":{"rendered":"Inside Warriors' gamble on NRL problem child"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warriors boss Cameron George has defended the club's signing of controversial Broncos star Matt Lodge<\/a>, insisting the NRL has deemed him "a fit and proper person" and praising the chance rugby league gives people to "redeem" themselves.<\/p>\n

The Warriors are now the second club that's opened its arms to Lodge<\/a> following his infamous New York rampage in October 2015<\/a>, in which he followed two women into a unit block at night, threatened to kill them and a nine-year-old boy and physically assaulted a man. Lodge spent two weeks in the infamous Rikers Island prison and was ordered by a US judge to pay the victims $1.6 million.<\/p>\n

The NRL's decision to register Lodge's Broncos contract ahead of the 2018 season polarised opinion in and out of rugby league, but the front-rower has since piled up 65 games with Brisbane across four years.<\/p>\n

The Warriors have now secured the 26-year-old<\/a> on a two-and-a-half-year deal, effective immediately. He's contracted until the end of 2022 and can trigger a player option for 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Warriors chief executive George was staunch in his defence of the signing.<\/p>\n

"The NRL has deemed Matt a fit and proper person to be in the game. That was done a number of years ago and he's been playing in the NRL for a number of years now, since that issue arose some time ago," George told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"We're fair game like any club would have been if Matt was available to being signed.<\/p>\n

"We haven't tried to get him back in the game; he's in the game and he's been very good since he's been back in the game. He's been very good for the Broncos on and off the field and he'll continue to do so with us, as well.<\/p>\n

"We gave an extensive process into looking at (signing him). We spoke to key stakeholders and everyone believes that everyone is entitled to a second opportunity. Matt's proved himself with that at the Broncos and the fact is he's a fit and proper person to be in the game and we're comfortable with our decision after our process."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The NRL's chief executive who rubber-stamped Lodge's return to the competition, Todd Greenberg, said at the time that rugby league was a sport that offered second chances.<\/p>\n

"The game of rugby league has an ability to help shape the rest of (Matt's) life," Greenberg told Fox League in February 2018.<\/p>\n

"He's a young man who's made a very bad error. He's getting a second opportunity. He needs to take that with both hands and not disrespect the opportunity."<\/p>\n

Whether they've returned to the NRL following incidents big or small, Dylan Walker<\/a>, Corey Norman, Mitchell Pearce, Arana Taumata, Greg Bird and Wendell Sailor are among the many footballers who've received a second shot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"It's not easy to get back in the game of rugby league after you've had an issue like Matt did," George said.<\/p>\n

"He went through the correct process. The Broncos managed that really well, so full credit to them.<\/p>\n

"That's the beauty about rugby league; it gives us all a great chance in life and gives us a great chance to redeem ourselves and Matt's no different to that.<\/p>\n

"Matt's this 'head down, arse up' kind of bloke.<\/p>\n

"He's trying to regain his rhythm in life and he's got a beautiful partner in Jessica and two lovely kids and he's doing his best.<\/p>\n

"We're going to support him and we're going to keep him on that road and keep progressing."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/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><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warriors boss Cameron George has defended the club's signing of controversial Broncos star Matt Lodge, insisting the NRL has deemed him "a fit and proper […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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\/94087"}],"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=94087"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94089,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94087\/revisions\/94089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}