BY CURTIS WOODWARD

Ben Barba is no angel. In fact, he is an idiot, bordering on moronic for destroying a career he had re-built from previous incidents. The enigmatic fullback was back on top after helping steer Cronulla-Sutherland to their maiden premiership.

For some, that is never enough – not even the sweet taste of grand final glory. Barba has put his young family through hell on more than one occasion. He’d been shown the door by Wayne Bennett in Brisbane and desperately needed to resurrect his fledgling career at the Sharks. He did it. The 2012 Dally M winner’s redemption story was complete after the Sharks defeated the Melbourne Storm at ANZ Stadium in October. But it still wasn’t enough.

Four days after their title victory, Barba tested positive for cocaine. Today he was released by the club and sent packing to a rehab clinic in Thailand.

“I am accountable for myself and my actions and if I don’t address them now I will certainly ruin my career and more importantly my life and that of my family” Barba said in a statement.

“As footballers we often find it hard to speak up about having problems, but this decision has lifted so much pressure off myself that I cannot start to explain just how much better I feel by taking this action.

“I hope to return to the game at some stage and am very grateful for the support of the Cronulla Sharks and I hope that one day I can again play beside this terrific bunch of guys.

“I have made some tremendous friendships both within the playing ranks and throughout the coaching and administration teams. This has made it all the more difficult to make this decision but it’s something I just had to do.”

Barba has had his fair share of chances – more than some. However it’s our reaction to the news this morning that got this writer thinking. It’s never been about the players and certainly has never been about their welfare. It says more about us as a society and fans that there was only a minority that hit social media to show any kind of support to Barba, a human being who has admitted that he has serious problems. We’re so quick to point fingers and rage at our “heroes” that we forget that we’re also human and make the same errors our professional athletes make.

We are that keen to judge and scream, “look what HE has to done to MY game” that we don’t even stop to take a breath anymore.

Hey @BenBarba03 pls go away … signed Everyone

— Dave (@davetravo) November 8, 2016

https://twitter.com/FamousKJ_RP/status/795779824836964352

https://twitter.com/mirandadevine/status/795746896371335169

Its shoot first, shoot him again, shoot him twice more in the chest and then ask questions later.

I’ll be the first to put my hand up and say that after a Jarryd Hayne video went viral earlier this year of him drinking with a suspected bikie, I said I wanted to fine him $200,000 for hurting the NRL brand. Perhaps $200,000 was a little heavy. Maybe any fine would have been heavy. But it was a window into my building frustration. Not because of the players but the perception of the players that’s manufactured constantly by the media. 99.9% of rugby league players do the right thing but yet we forget this because buzz words like “scandal” and “saga” get more clicks and sell more newspapers.

You can either get behind these human beings (which includes having a laugh at their expense when they do screw up) or you can take the moral high ground like you’ve never done anything wrong.

All we’re doing is eating our own and we’re doing it all too often.

This isn’t about Barba because he’s clearly in rehab for a reason. In his own words he needs help. No we’re talking about YOU.

#BREAKING Ben Barba released from @Cronulla_Sharks after testing positive to cocaine DETAILS https://t.co/uFqdKc8DBB https://t.co/Za4pqLzoRT

— 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) November 7, 2016

This morning on television while mums and dads around Australia were getting their kids ready for school, Sunrise ran the Barba story with the heading “NRL Cocaine Scandal”. For those watching with the sound turned down or simply passing the TV, all they would have seen is “NRL Cocaine Scandal”. Buzz word, buzz word, buzz word. Our brains click over and before we know it we’re out the front of the school talking about ANOTHER drug scandal hitting rugby league when we really never knew the facts to begin with. Buzz word, buzz word, buzz word.

Another news service ran with “drug bust”.

What drug bust?

Buzz word, buzz word, buzz word.

We’re becoming what we hate and we don’t even know it.

This is a bloke and a family that need rugby league’s help.

Buzz word, buzz word, buzz word.

@woodward_curtis