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A leading sports psychologist says the NRL must do more to help players prepare for social media criticism or risk a repeat of Ben Hunt's high-profile case.
Key points:
- Ben Hunt was on the receiving end of vicious trolling in the lead up to the NRL finals
- A sports psychologist says prevention would be better than cure when it comes to coping with abuse
- Wayne Bennett said last week players shouldn't look at social media and have themselves to blame
Jeff Bond applauded Hunt for seeking professional help ahead of the NRL finals after the St George Illawarra number seven consulted a psychologist to cope with vile trolls.
He also urged the former Brisbane Bronco to quit social media, and to welcome pressure.
But the sports psychologist — who has worked with NRL and AFL clubs — said the league should never have let Hunt get to that stage.
Mr Bond urged the NRL to educate players on strategies to build their social media resilience to prevent Hunt's plight from happening again.
"One of the best approaches to social media impact is to have players given some preventative work other than wait until someone gets to this stage and putting the white flag up," he said.
"It's a matter of building good core self-esteem and along with that comes resilience to those kind of things, that's what I would recommend.
"I think at club and junior level, coaches and sporting administrators and also parents could do their bit there too because it [social media] is everywhere.
"In the long run prevention has got to be better than the cure."
In his first year of a $6 million deal, Hunt had been the scapegoat of the Dragons' late-season fade and copped abuse that became so bad his wife publicly hit out at the "despicable bullying".
Hunt first asked the haters to back off before seeking out a psychologist.
He bounced back with a vengeance to lead the Dragons to a shock 48-18 elimination final win over his former club Brisbane last weekend.
'Get off social media'
Broncos coach Wayne Bennett, speaking before Sunday's game, had little sympathy for Hunt.
"If you are a football player and you read social media then you really are a bit of a fool," he said.
"I can't have any sympathy on the social media stuff. He doesn't have to read it, that is my point."
Mr Bond agreed that getting off the platforms was a solution to the problem.
"My advice always to my clients has been get off social media. All you are doing is opening yourself up," he said.
"And why would you bother?
"You've got to be your own judge. Not Joe Blow down the road with a pint in his hand who thinks you're an idiot then jumps on social media — it's pretty ridiculous really."
But Bond admits a social media ban would be easier said than done, especially at a professional football club.
"It's not just athletes. Club administrators get caught up in it too," he said.
"I have worked at an AFL club where even at the highest level of the club they were just paranoid about social media, what the fans were saying.
"I thought to myself 'goodness me, you employ quality people to work with at the club, don't let outside disruptions tell you what is good or bad'."
Bond's other advice to Hunt was to be like Johnathan Thurston and make pressure your friend if he wanted to step up as a big game playmaker.
"The Johnathan Thurstons of the world, they grew into those roles. They learned strategies for not only coping in high-pressure situations but to thrive in them," he said.
"It might look hellish watching from the sidelines but this is their workplace and they get paid handsomely for it."
AAP/ABC
Topics: nrl, rugby-league, sport, internet-culture, information-and-communication, sydney-2000, nsw, australia, brisbane-4000, qld
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