It’s been nearly a week since Brandon Smith appeared on a podcast, said some things, and sent the rugby league world into a meltdown that has raged on for days.
You have to wonder why a player would ever put themselves in that position again.
The most surprising thing about the Smith interview wasn’t anything he said – it was that he was so open about it. In rugby league, this simply doesn’t happen.
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Athletes will get slammed for giving robotic or terse answers (to the same generic questions they get asked after every match, no less) but the moment anyone shows an ounce of personality, we want to tear them down.
You can take issue with the content of what Smith said – but what can’t be denied is that it was a far more real representation of him, or most players, than when they give a canned interview before or after a match.
Penrith are understandably unhappy that they were dragged into the saga by claims they were in talks with Smith – but is a throwaway comment on a very relaxed interview really worth an official statement? And if it is, doesn’t this just prove that players are right to try and avoid speaking frankly at all costs?
Other than that legitimate gripe from the premiers, and those of his current club, every other criticism that has been levied towards the Melbourne hooker in the past couple of days ranges from tedious to pearl clutching.
Smith didn’t say anything particularly outrageous – to be told that players like drinking beers together isn’t exactly a smoking gun, nor is saying: “The Roosters are a well-run organisation and I’d like to play there”.
The latter comments were admittedly on the nose due to the timing, but the ridiculous contract system in place isn’t his fault.
He’s had his language policed, to the point where someone sat down and counted how many times he said a swear word, his club published an apology on his behalf, and he’s now had a rival team issue a statement taking issue with something he said.
But Smith is just an easy target for those raging at a changing world.
For the first time, alternative technologies prevent the narrative from being controlled by traditional media. Smith can be bleeped and selectively quoted in a story online, but in a raw podcast, anything goes.
The media landscape is evolving, the way athletes and their fans communicate is changing, whether we like it or not.
Last year Jacob Host casually told his Twitch followers while playing Among Us that he was joining the Rabbitohs. The world kept turning.
The number of people listening to rugby league podcasts, or watching players on Twitch, suggests that, perhaps, it’s just a very vocal minority shouting into the void about things they don’t understand.
But as long as what looks like a pretty casual conversation between a player and podcast host can be picked apart surgically to the point that the number of people who’ve read about it now far exceeds the number of people who listened to it, who would blame Smith, or any other player, from wanting to go through that in the future?
You can’t have your cake and eat it too. If you want interviews with more personality and less guardedness, you can’t be shocked at a couple of candid statements or nasty words.
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