'No need' for other Sharks to go public

'No need' for other Sharks to go public

Players involved in the group sex scandal involving Matthew Johns should not feel
obligated to come forward, according to Preston Campbell, a member of the 2002
Cronulla NRL tour squad to New Zealand.

The former Sharks playmaker - who now plays for Gold Coast Titans - said he could
see no good coming from others owning up to participating in the incident, which
occurred in a Christchurch hotel seven years ago.
"I don't think so. I don't think it is going to help the matter at all," Campbell
told reporters on the Gold Coast on Friday.
"Whether it is going to help Matty at all, I don't know.
"It is totally up to them to come forward. But I am not sure whether they have to."
Former Sharks player Daniel Ninnes on Friday confirmed to Channel Nine the woman
involved in the incident invited him back to her home and he went - but did not have
sex with her.
"I was present towards the end of the evening. I did not see any of the events said
to have occurred and I did not participate," Ninnes said in a statement.
The other players who took part in the incident have been called "cowards" and
Cronulla chairman Barry Pierce has called for them to follow Johns' example by
apologising.
Campbell, Brett Kimmorley, David Peachey, Colin Best, Nick Graham and Paul Mellor
have all given assurances they were not involved while current Sharks captain Paul
Gallen said he arrived in the room after the incident.
Only Johns and halfback Brett Firman have been named as participants in the incident.
Rugby league commentator Phil Gould made an emotional plea on Nine Network's The
Footy Show on Thursday night for the other players to come forward so Johns would
not "wear the brunt of this attack".
The high-profile Johns has had his lucrative television career put on hold since
being named and shamed in the ABC's Four Corners program.
"You see the state of what's happening with Matty Johns, it's very unfortunate,"
Campbell said.
"Matty Johns is a top bloke, a great person."
Asked whether Johns may have to "carry the can" over the incident, Campbell said:
"He's the sort of person who probably will.
"He's not going to name names."
Owner of the Racecourse Hotel in 2002, John Butterfield, told Channel Seven on
Friday the woman had boasted of having sex with two New Zealand rugby players the
night before the Cronulla incident.
"(She) gloated to staff members about the great night she had and the way she got
them into the men's toilets and had a bit of fun with them," Butterfield said.
"She just did nothing but tell all the staff what a great night she had and, to put
it quite crudely, had the whole team in her bed with her."
But the former manager of the hotel, Keith Burgess, was far more sympathetic to all
parties.
"It's all a big bloody mess, if you ask me," Burgess said.
"I've got to say I also feel very sorry for Matthew Johns and the other boys, too.
"It must be one hell of a time for them."
Burgess said the woman, who had worked for him for some time, was a good,
hardworking employee.
"I didn't know anything about her private life, but she's the last person you'd ever
expect to be involved in this type of thing," he told AAP.
"She was a decent, stable type with her head screwed on."
Meanwhile, Federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis said on Friday more women involved in
senior sporting roles would help foster greater respect for females.
And the executive director of 147 Catholic schools in the Sydney archdiocese, Dr Dan
White, said on Friday their schools would consider breaking ties with the sport if
the NRL failed to change attitudes towards women.
The Australian Rugby League (ARL) later issued a release, pushing the sport's
"positive impact" at junior and school level.
The ARL also claimed they had received "strong messages of support" from school
principals during the scandal.