DAVID KLEMMER writes: Wayne's mistake a wake-up call…

DAVID KLEMMER writes: Wayne's mistake a wake-up call for us all

The irony of Wayne Bennett being caught out breaking the NRL's COVID bio-security protocols last week is not only did he help set the rules up, he's also probably a person at most risk, health-wise, because of his age.

It's disappointing what's happened with the breaches given what's at stake here. The bottom line is no matter how tough it is for all of us in our bubbles, putting the entire game in jeopardy and the livelihoods of so many people at risk should be non-negotiable.

Everyone has done a hell of a lot of work just to get the game back up and running from Peter V'landys to the NRL to the clubs and the players. The last thing we want is individuals ruining it for everyone.

This disease, it's so infectious and dangerous, even more so for someone of Wayne's age so we've all got to be careful. We've got these protocols and we can't be flouting the rules, we have to live by them. It's that simple.

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It was disappointing our club was caught up in it over the weekend. Our two young guys have been cleared by the NRL but they're disappointed in themselves. They thought they let the club down and the team down.

It was just a dumb error of judgement and the senior playing group let them know about it.

We got stuck into them for almost putting the club and the game in jeopardy. They were very sorry coming in and facing the boys and telling us what happened.

It was disappointing but everyone makes mistakes and they are 18-19 year old kids who manned up and fronted us about it at our team meeting on Tuesday. I'm pretty sure after the experience, they won't be doing anything like that again.

Let-down: David Klemmer says the COVID-19 disease is so infectious and so dangerous, especially for someone of Wayne Bennett's age, that everyone has to be careful. He says putting the entire game in jeopardy and the livelihoods of so many people at risk is non-negotiable. Picture: Getty Images.

Everyone in our playing group knows the standards we want to set here now. We want to make sure that everyone is doing the right thing off the field and we all need to be held accountable for each other.

Manly mindset

Our clash with the Sea Eagles on Sunday at McDonald Jones Stadium is huge for us and we have to go in with the mindset we are playing Melbourne Storm or the Roosters.

These are the games going in that we think we should win but we struggle with. So we have to make sure we've got our heads on because it is going to be a hard, tough game and we've got to win it and keep our momentum from the Tigers game going.

We need to nail our week of training with everyone doing their work and being accountable for everything on the field at training and off the field afterwards to make sure when it comes to game time, we are all prepared and ready to go.

Yes, Manly will be missing some players like we are but they were missing players but still had plenty of firepower when they beat the Eels not that long ago in round 10. So we have to be ready for them and not take them lightly.

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