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By Wayne Smith
February 21, 2008 THE Australian Rugby Union is set to decide Matt Henjak's future but the repercussions of the incident that has placed his career in jeopardy could reverberate for weeks to come and await his Western Force teammates on their return from South Africa.
RugbyWA has passed on to the ARU the recommendation of its code of conduct tribunal that Henjak's Force contract be terminated, but the troubled half-back's future will remain in limbo until the national body examines the hearing transcripts.
Even if the ARU endorses the recommendation, Henjak then has five business days to lodge an appeal - although it is unclear whether, like Wendell Sailor following his two-year drug ban, he will bother to go to the expense of challenging his effective ejection from the game in Australia.
However, sources close to Henjak said the former Australia half-back disputes some of the alleged facts and findings of the tribunal, opening up the possibility of an appeal if the ARU tears up his contract.
Either way, there is a distinct possibility that Henjak will not go quietly. He is also understood to be seriously considering "lifting the lid" on the culture of the Western Force and RugbyWA's handling of a number of disciplinary incidents.
If Henjak is shown the door by the ARU, it is unclear where he will go. His former Force boss Peter O'Meara said the 26-year-old had told him recently that he had no interest in switching to rugby league, which may be fortuitous because attempts by Henjak's manager, Greg Keenan, to offer his services to NRL clubs appear to have evoked no interest whatever.
The player's best option would appear to be to remain in rugby overseas.
As hardline as ARU chief executive John O'Neill has been on disciplinary matters since returning to the job in mid-2007, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the ARU could review the tribunal's findings and decide to lighten Henjak's penalty to a heavy fine and a severe suspension.
Yet that is a long shot at best, especially in light of the unusually graphic language contained in the official statement released following the marathon eight-hour tribunal hearing in Perth on Tuesday night. In one passage, the tribunal members said they were satisfied Henjak "punched (teammate) Haig Sare when Haig was sitting down vulnerable and unable to defend himself ... the committee was unable to find any justification for that assault which probably caused Haig Sare's jaw to be broken".
While the ARU is left to wrestle with the finer detail, the Force already has turned its attention to two broad questions that flow from the February 10 blow-up at a Fremantle bar.
Why were as many as eight of their players out socialising just two days before the team's departure for a three-match Super 14 tour of South Africa?
And why did the players not intervene to separate Henjak and Sare, particularly as their dispute spread over three distinct phases?
The initial argument occurred in the toilets of the bar, flared up again in the middle of the busy establishment, and then erupted a third time outside in the street.
Force captain Nathan Sharpe, speaking from South Africa, said the team had discussed the issue at some length.
"We've got to act quicker," Sharpe said.
"It's disappointing as a team that we let it get to the point it did. But the two of them left the pub on the intention of talking things through outside and they were left on their own."
Acting Force chief executive Mitch Hardy intends to press for an explanation of why the players were in a bar in the first place.
Although former Force half-back Chris O'Young has quit Glasgow Warriors to rejoin Perth club, he will not be named in the 22 for the round-two match against the Cheetahs, with James Stannard to make his starting debut at half-back in place of Henjak.
yip, he's a class act.....
Maybe the SMH has run the headlines in hopes of getting the story from him......If not, Pieman will use his usual tactics of posting unsubstantiated fiction in one article and then quoting himself as a trusted journalistic source.
Either way, they'll definitely get an article showing thein the worst possible light. I'm just not sure whether it'll be "Force makes superstar halfback into a thug and then cuts him lose when he was only doing what Geoff Stooke asked him to do" or "Force penalty too harsh Matt Henjak has never had a drink in his life and all the problems he has ever had are a force cover up for other players (Even the problems documented before 2005 are the Force's fault)"
C'mon the![]()
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I have had the misfortune of having to sack employees who were otherwise great workers but had committed terminal indescretions.
My advice to them all was to walk out of the room and when asked, to say that they had resigned on their terms and I would back them up if ever asked by future employers.
Unfortunatly one person walked out and told the world he had been sacked and we the employers were a " buncha etc".
Thereafter he never got a decent job as the stigma went with him.
Advice to Henners.....walk away...keep mouth shut....
Well Eddie Jones his previous Wallabies coach has offered him a lifeline:
Jones prepared to offer Henjak an English lifeline
Rupert Guinness and Greg Growden | February 21, 2008
FORMER Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who sent Matt Henjak home from the 2005 tour of South Africa, is prepared to offer the disgraced Western Force halfback another chance.
Jones, soon to become director of rugby at English club Saracens, last night supported the ruling of the Rugby WA's conduct committee that Henjak should be sacked for his attack on teammate Haig Sare at a Perth bar 11 days ago.
But Jones said he would be willing to take on Henjak, who earned four national caps during his coaching reign, should the halfback be eligible to play in Europe.
However, the Herald was told last night that Henjak might not ualify for another work visa, given that he had played rugby in England.
"I would give him another chance if the circumstances were right … no hesitation," Jones said last night. "He deserves the punishment but still deserves to have a future as a footballer."
Jones said he knew Henjak had a problem with alcohol - which led to his becoming the first Wallaby in 40 years to be sent home from a tour after a nightclub incident in Cape Town in 2005 - but felt he had "turned the corner" and so selected him for the end-of-season Wallabies tour the same year. "Matt is essentially a good kid. But it is true, there have been a number of alcohol-related incidents," Jones said.
"And I did sense that he had an issue then [in 2005]. We sought to address the problem. He came on the Wallabies tour [at the end of the year] and played well, especially against Ireland.
"We thought he had turned the corner. But it seems now that the corner was just too far away."
Jones last night urged the Australian Rugby Union not to abandon Henjak. "The big thing now, going forward, is for Matt to sort out his issue. I hope the ARU and provinces help him."
However, Jones ruled out the possibility of Henjak playing rugby in Japan, because of the language difference. "Players in those positions - halfbacks and five-eighths - have to speak Japanese," he said.
Henjak may know as early as today whether his time in Australian rugby is officially up. The ARU is expected today to receive the transcript from the conduct committee's hearing, which recommended that the Western Force halfback be sacked because of his attack on Sare in an East Fremantle bar.
The ARU, which has the final say on whether a player can be sacked, must examine in detail the findings of the judiciary hearing before being able to rubber-stamp its ruling that Henjak should have his Force contract terminated because he had breached its code of conduct.
I think 'spilling the beans' would take away that last bit of credibility he has. Perhaps he has said or done nothing and has no intention of saying anything but honestly if he did, how malignant can you get?
Geez Gerry...i already posted this in another thread. Get with it!![]()
I'm inclined to believe this is the papers creating controversy. Henjak isn't that stupid.
"Remember lads, rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to Giteau."
If he did then that would certainly limit his future employment opportunities.
I don't think he is that stupid or spiteful.
I think he would be that spiteful but not that stupid in the end but his personality I wouldnt of been suprised if he did
He's done some stupid things......I guess I wouldn't be surprised....But it sure smells of SMH doesn't it?
C'mon the![]()
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