Rugby League Player's Association CEO Ian Prendergast has "raised concerns about players being filmed without consent, believing there needs to be protection from those cashing in on the trend," according to Adrian Proszenko of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The RLPA has been liaising with Sydney Roosters player Mitchell Pearce, the club and the National Rugby League to "ensure the disgraced playmaker receives the welfare assistance he requires and that due process is followed in determining an appropriate sanction." Pearce was "captured on camera drunk, making unwanted advances towards a woman and simulating a sexual act with a dog in footage that was a bonanza for those who screened and sold it." There is a suspicion that Pearce was "deliberately set up with a view to cashing in following the emergence of text messages that are now being investigated by the Roosters and the NRL integrity unit." Prendergast said that "players needed to be aware they were increasingly becoming public property and there was no excuse for anti-social behaviour." His main concern in the latest incident was Pearce's welfare and ensuring that any sanction was "proportionate with what has occurred and in line with his contract." However, the former AFL player's union exec said that the "matter raised privacy issues that also needed to be addressed as sportspeople increasingly come into the spotlight during private interactions." Prendergast said, "It needs to be clarified what's legal and whether this should become a norm in society, particularly given some of the laws in place to stop that type of thing occurring. In the not-too-distant future it's something everyone involved in sport and society will need to [address] ... there needs to be a line drawn between what is private and what is in the public domain. We all make mistakes and are caught in compromised situations in private" (SMH, 1/30).
