It is disappointing to read headlines and editorials this week selectively using comments from Harry Grant regarding the salaries of young players in the NRL.
Harry knows better than most the sacrifices rugby league players – and young athletes like him – make when they are starting out in their chosen sport.
He knows very well that he is among a small percentage of players who can make a good living from the game. But Harry also knows there are a number of players who make the tough decision to either continue chasing that dream on minimum wages or heading back into the workforce.
His comments were not in reference to his current situation, but the challenges of young players trying to make a living playing rugby league.
Harry would be one of the last players in the game to scoff at working in a trade, as some have suggested. He grew up in a working-class community and his family is full of tradies.
He has worked the tools, like every player at Storm does when they first come to the club and knows very well how privileged he is to play the game at the elite level.
Unfortunately, these facts are selectively forgotten.
It is sad that some have chosen his comments in isolation to validate their own beliefs about the state of pay for rugby league players.
Harry is an asset to the game, and to our club, and his views should be respected, not taken out of context to suit a narrative in the media.
