The first female chair of the Rugby League Players Association wants NRL players to take it upon themselves to weed out the bad behaviour which plagued last off-season, risking millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Former deputy vice-chancellor at Macquarie University Dr Deidre Anderson took over as the players' union boss from Russell Adams at the RLPA's annual general meeting in Sydney on Monday night. Adams left the post due to health reasons.
Trailblazer: The RLPA's new chair Deidre Anderson.
It has paved the way for RLPA director Anderson's ascent to the chairmanship after months of debate over the treatment of women by a minority of NRL players, who have been charged with serious offences during the off-season.
Asked how she had personally reacted to a number of negative headlines, Anderson said: "My father and my family asked me that same question.
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"My response to them was a pretty simple one: serious as these issues are, it's still a very small percentage of players. Most of the players are sick and tired of others making poor decisions because they don't want to be identified as being part of that.
"I really think the shift for us is the players driving how they want to be viewed. They will slowly weed out those that are not making the right decisions.
"Players don't want to be part of this anymore and they will start to pull other players into line. If we achieve that then we've got sustainable change. We can't continue to keep bringing in rules and regulations. You've only got to look at the broader community to see that it doesn't work."
The first female chair of the Rugby League Players Association wants NRL players to take it upon themselves to weed out the bad behaviour which plagued last off-season, risking millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Former deputy vice-chancellor at Macquarie University Dr Deidre Anderson took over as the players' union boss from Russell Adams at the RLPA's annual general meeting in Sydney on Monday night. Adams left the post due to health reasons.
Trailblazer: The RLPA's new chair Deidre Anderson.
It has paved the way for RLPA director Anderson's ascent to the chairmanship after months of debate over the treatment of women by a minority of NRL players, who have been charged with serious offences during the off-season.
Asked how she had personally reacted to a number of negative headlines, Anderson said: "My father and my family asked me that same question.
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"My response to them was a pretty simple one: serious as these issues are, it's still a very small percentage of players. Most of the players are sick and tired of others making poor decisions because they don't want to be identified as being part of that.
"I really think the shift for us is the players driving how they want to be viewed. They will slowly weed out those that are not making the right decisions.
"Players don't want to be part of this anymore and they will start to pull other players into line. If we achieve that then we've got sustainable change. We can't continue to keep bringing in rules and regulations. You've only got to look at the broader community to see that it doesn't work."
