With yet another fall from grace of a modern day league legend, Ben Barber, one has to question the logic behind the way these young guys are paid so much money, given so much free time, at such a young age.

Given that some of these young guys are on million dollar deals, surely there must be a way of quarantining a large portion of their incomes, so they simply don't have the disposable income, which is the main cause of their downfall.

Its the old 'no cash, no splash' scenario.

A simple minder system, whereby they can only access their surplus funds for what is considered a 'worthwhile cause' , like an investment, would be a better way, because after all, something else many of these kids lack is education and mentoring.

As there playing careers are generally less than ten years, it would make sense to have this nest egg there for them when they do retire from the game.

For you and me this bis an interesting thread.
We both begin at this time of the year, to talk almost exclusively, about our game.
You will note sports threads do not run well here.
And that most would not even begin to know this fantastic, brilliant sportsman.
I doubt your view of him is the full story.
I wish I did not know the possible/probable reasons.
Much more likely this and childhood and things that took place then are the blame.
I wish I did not know, even with the impending door slamming rage of the do good-ers, they are in part to blame.
Rechtub my local [two exist] *MISSIONS* are far from the NT yet child sexual assaults are endemic.
Almost every child in first few years of School come to School to be fed, to be treated for head lice so bad great tuffs of hair no longer exist.
Rechtub, these kids go to school to escape3 sexual asults by uncles and family members.
If we want change we must stop giving our selves a pat on the back, for failing.
Stop entrenching these things by setting DIFFERENT ways we handle this if the victims are white, because we want to act in a PC way
And Rechtub, true love is caring love, not ignoring the truth.
Look to the NT laws bought bin by Howard, kept by Labor, fought by fools.
Fools who have no answers .
A UN inquiry may well say Australia keeps its first nation down and separate on purpose.
You speak of one broken life in fact there are very many more, we are guilty, we lack the guts to fix it.

I never heard of the fellow you mentioned. Apparently he was a well-paid athlete who did something bad.

However, I have heard of Christopher Skase and Alan Bond, two no good scoundrels who made a lot of money and defrauded people.

Those were older guys with enough free time to work out ways to defraud people. The fact is if you allow anyone to get a lot of money some are going to behave badly. The athlete got his money because he apparently was quite skilled in sport. However, the skill Skase and Bond showed in getting their money was in dirty dealing.

I am more concerned with the like of Skase and Bond than with the athlete. The athlete may have ruined his own life and that of his family. Skase and Bond ruined many other lives. George Bush who lied my country into war ruined many lives. The athlete is small potatoes.

To me YOUTH, NO MONEY + TIME = A BIGGER PROBLEM.

Quote "Its the old 'no cash, no splash' scenario." Could also be I have no cash I will steal it and don't care who I hurt getting it.

Just like the druggies they do not care where there next fix comes from or who gets hurt.

Sorry, but in truth I can give no value to those two posts.
Nothing to do with the subject.
For the very same reason I warned Rechtub sports threads do not do well here.
NRL, no small sport but nearly unknown in other than its heartland states.
This bloke, if his skills transported to aerial ping pong, would be known by all.
He is one of the very best in the world.
A young Aboriginal, he smashed every opposition.
I see no link to davidf crooks, and less to the other post.
I too know his club says his problems started in childhood, so very many do in this community.
I think we all know of great sports men and women from this community that suffered this way

I don't know if in this "free" society you could do it Butch.

Let’s say you suggest it for young Barber, I can hear the howls of "why didn't you suggest it when the last white kid played up" coming from interested parties. I understand and agree with all your suggestions, but he is old enough to vote, unlike my eldest brother who was conscripted to Vietnam but was still too young to vote. Things have changed, the young have become older.

Consider the player structure in the clubs today compared to thirty or forty years ago. Back then the individual players dealt one on one with the club officials with the help of their lawyer. Today if you have 17 guys on the payroll and 17 managers that actually call the shots for their player client.

What I am saying is that the dynamic of the relationship and the reach of the club to direct players apart from what is in their contract; being so many games per season and how many training sessions is now gone.

They tell us that they mentor their younger stars, but with the track record of the past 6 or 7 years, it hasn’t worked as evident by the number of recidivists, if they are wild they are wild Butch.

The clubs probably have an existing player welfare officer, if they do, they have to try harder. If they don’t they should invest in one. I compare these kids to middle aged lotto winners, many of them have blown it all…..and they aren’t kids.

All we can do is sit back and watch. Ben is a great kid, he will come back to earth.