COACH’S CORNER: In the age of smartphones, no player is safe

The plan was simple this week — analyse a tactical element from Round 1 of the NRL season.

On Sunday, I was ready to take a deep dive into the Newcastle Knights' attack under their new coach, Justin Holbrook.

Last year on this very website, I was critical of their structure and fluency, so I wanted to see what had changed.

It has improved. There are signs of growth. And I was ready to break it down.

Then a ‘TTT' got in the way. A Tough Time with Technology!

So, I pivoted. I turned my attention to the Canterbury Bulldogs — their tackle technique, defensive spacing and Lachlan Galvin's decision-making.

That analysis is available in this week's episode of The Loose Carry Podcast.

But before finishing this piece, something else pulled me in a completely different direction.

It's not tactical. It's not technical.

It's bigger than that.

It's about something that can derail careers and dismantle premiership campaigns before a ball is even kicked.

And it starts inside the rugby league bubble.

It is something that can destroy careers and disrupt the chances of your team to take out the title this, or any, season.

As seems custom the week before the NRL season in Australia, something gets leaked about how a player may, or may not, have misbehaved.

Step-forward a picture that has emerged of someone who may or may not be Isaiah Iongi of the Eels, who may or may not be consuming an illegal substance. A picture that could even be a deep-fake, which isn't impossible in 2026.

The image, either way, saw the Eels notify the integrity unity and release a statement confirming they were aware of the issue.

If there is some kind of off-field drama for the papers to write about, it seems to be a bit more common these days that players get caught in a photo.

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This is because, players have actually got better at behaving during the off-season in this decade, as a rule. Or at least making sure they don't get caught. That's why Reece Walsh sipping some toilet water went viral at the end of last season. Throw away the key.

In Australia, the game has put many of our rugby league players in a bubble. There's a whole generation or two of them who know nothing else apart form that metaphorical bubble.

Isaih Longi is 22 years of age and he fits right into the category of player I am now going to talk about.

Up until 2017, we had an Under 20s NYC competition that brought the profile of talented teenagers through the roof. Many were TV stars before they'd become full time professionals.

The NYC may have been scrapped, but the genie was out of the bottle.

A young player gets given a contract or significant attention at a young age and, more often than not, he or she thinks they've ‘cracked it' until a good coach, teacher or mentor comes along to keep the feet on the ground.

As NRL clubs scramble for the prized signature, egos get stroked with compliments and talk about future prospects of stardom. Some NRL clubs are actually excellent at curbing expectations at this stage, but others (in the form of their desperate recruitment managers) are not.

The player agents are sometimes even more guilty of this. The phrase ‘over-promise and under deliver' comes to mind when it comes to far too many player agents. Is it not human nature for many kids and their families to sign with the agent or club that tells them what they want to hear?

The kid, when leaving school, might get a job for a while whilst playing lower grades, but if their boss is a supportive league fan, will get time off work to train and travel with their team, may be removed from heavy duties and will definitely not do much overtime missing out, once again, on the realities of life for many.

Without even blinking, a kid has gone through their teenage years lacking the experience of many of the arresting moments other ‘normal' teenagers might get, impacting at times the ability to read the room. On top of that, all the training they do in evenings and games at weekends, stops them from doing normal teenage things.

They spend most of it as a commodity rather than a child, teenager, or young adult.

This is the rugby league bubble. Away from many of life's genuine lessons.

There are enough wise old souls who like to prepare promising youngsters for life after football just in case they ‘don't make it', but how often do we talk about the player whose dreams do come true? Whose adolescent and young adult life is something akin to a fairy tale? Or, the player who has crowds chanting or cheering their name before they've had a proper shave or a legal beer? Or the one who gets asked for autographs and gets all the trappings of being a young star?

Is it not human nature to think, if most people are pumping your tyres up all the time, that you are invincible? That you can get away with things? That everyone who comes into your life is a true friend and doesn't just want to know you for what you can bring to their life? Or to exploit you with a sneaky photo or a deep fake!

Many of the players who have been in alleged incidents over the years probably fall in most if not all of the above categories. They were probably on TV or live streaming regularly at the same time as many of their childhood mates were looking online for a job or at Centrelink. They stood out from their peer group.

It's inevitable we will have some footballers who have gaps in their mental list of life lessons. Their knowledge of what is right and wrong, sensible or silly, still needs some attention as they are likely to get it wrong sometimes, even if their only crime is trusting the wrong people.

And it's because they've only been in the rugby league bubble.

Australia is also a country where any perceived ‘big headedness' will be stamped on pretty quickly, so the young player is subconsciously encouraged to stay ‘down to earth' and do what ‘normal people' do.

Peer pressure can be a huge thing and it goes until adulthood too, particularly when male testosterone in big groups is involved. The adulation players receive isn't just in the football realm. It can also be in the community, in the shopping centres, in the pubs, bars and friendship groups. Sometimes it's not adulation at all, it's jealousy.

If we look at the list of NRL player discrepancies over the years in Australia, they are wide ranging and aren't just caused by too much adulation in the community. But nights out, negative dealings with the community and someone close by willing to sneakily leak something to the media, are a very repetitive theme.

And it is a media now that is having the biggest upheaval in its history. We get most of our news online within minutes of it happening. Legacy media have to work constantly to get clicks. Some of them think player behaviour is fair game so they go looking for that angle, or it lands on their lap.

Our players need to be taught rigorously about this modern media world we are in. Everyone is now a member of the paparazzi and most have a smart phone in their pocket with enough power to film, or create from scratch, high quality pictures and videos. We are all essentially a mobile news reporter now if we want to be and can create our own realities.

AI has even given me a six-pack for the first time in my life and I am well into my forties. For AI to achieve that alone, is a miracle!
Jokes aside, this isn't about excusing poor behaviour.

It's about understanding why it keeps happening.

If we continue to place teenagers inside a professional bubble, inflate their profile before their maturity, and then unleash them into a world where every bystander is a potential journalist, we shouldn't be shocked when mistakes occur.

Developing footballers is one thing. Developing adults who can survive modern scrutiny is another entirely.

Because talent wins games.

But maturity protects careers.

Next week, we will talk about the football on the field, because the players never let us down on there.

Lee Addison is a former club coach at Sea Eagles and Panthers and the founder of rugbyleaguecoach.com.au. He is a Coach Mentor and his programmes for coaches and clubs can be found HERE. He is also currently offering some FREE courses for coaches.