In light of vile recent social media attacks, Broncos chief executive Paul White has implored Bulldogs fans to lay off new recruit Ben Barba and insisted the Dally M Medallist’s move north was for family – not financial – reasons.

Barba endured shocking abuse on Instagram last week when he posted a photo of a beach captioned with: “Miss the QLD weather! #beautifulOneDay #spectacularTheNext” – a move Bulldogs fans perceived as a taunt.

The superstar fullback was subjected to taunts that included threats to his daughters as a result.

After Barba signed a three-year Broncos deal in a bid to be closer to his family, White hoped Bulldogs fans took into consideration the livewire No.1’s reasons for leaving Belmore before criticising him.

“I hope they do and I also hope they also respect the way the club has gone about it,” he said.

“The Bulldogs have carried themselves magnificently throughout this process.

“We have brought a resolution that is great for the game. We are going to bring back a young man to Queensland and hopefully he can set forth on the next part of his life.

“The Bulldogs helped develop him.

“They have turned him into a Dally M player and parting company with him they have accepted they have put the welfare of the player first which is not an easy decision.”

A social media rant led to the Broncos missing out another star fullback – Josh Dugan.

Then-Canberra No.1 was poised to sign a three-year deal reportedly worth $1 million in April before it was torn up following Dugan’s Instagram attack on a Raiders fan.

White said the plight of Barba – who has had his share of off-field problems – could not be compared to that of Dugan.

“We were close to signing Josh Dugan but at the point where we were moving to … formalise those discussions he made a bad decision,” White said.

“And on the basis of that decision we made a judgement call, a right judgement call, to walk away from that contract.

“He had everything to gain at that time but made a bad call.”

White said there were no behavioural clauses added to Barba’s contract before signing off on the three-year deal.

“We had very honest discussions about what those issues were, how he was feeling at the moment,” he said.

“That’s what gives you confidence once you can talk about these things.

“Unfortunately a lot does play out in the public eye but he is honest and forthright about the areas in his life he has to work on.

“And we are happy to invest in that part of his recovery.”