WHETHER by accident or design, rugby league is the game in which too much controversy is never enough.
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Where the sensible suits of the AFL have used precision planning to ensure their sport hogs the headlines in the heartland all year long - from the draft in November to the women's competition that will kick off in February - league seems to blunder on to the back pages during the off-season through stories of disloyalty, mismanagement, wars of words and backstabbing.
In 2018-19, it was the ridiculous rigmarole involved in the coach swap between Wayne Bennett and Anthony Seibold that sustained league writers for weeks on end during the long, lazy days of spring and summer.
And this summer we've had the protracted negotiations to find the Roosters' Latrell Mitchell a new home.
IN NEWS AROUND BATHURST:
League managed to soak up great swathes of the sport pages with the merest hint of progress on Mitchell's movement before a deal with South Sydney was finally announced, whereupon it was back page (and front page) news.
By the end, the denials, obfuscations, red herrings and deliberate misunderstandings involved in the Mitchell saga outnumbered the tackle count in your average match - but that's not particularly surprising.
The 13-a-side game eats itself alive each year as ex-players, current coaches, talking heads and journalists fight, scrap and argue - among themselves and with the sport.
Every man and his dog will take any chance to detail everything that is wrong with the great game, though it's obvious their affection for the sport is undying.
It's a game that isn't torn apart by anger, resentment, wild accusations and furious criticism, but somehow made stronger by it.
And it's not going to change any time soon. While fans wait for the action to get going again on the field, they've got the big hits off the field to amuse them.
