North Queensland chief executive Peter Jourdain says the club have no plans to sack Robert Lui, but admits they’ll have to be prepared for criticism when he returns to NRL action.
The Cowboys acted swiftly to impose an indefinite ban on the 22-year-old after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his partner Taleah Rae Backo.
The incident took place following a Wests Tigers’ Mad Monday session last September and Lui was suspended by the joint venture.
He was then released to join the Cowboys after pressure from club sponsors and his desire to be closer to his family.
Lui is still being paid by the club, despite having played just one game this year and is training day-to-day with the team.
However, Jourdain said the troubled playmaker is undergoing daily counselling as part of a rehabilitation program, and won’t be rushed back into the side.
“It’s a process that needs to be worked through and we’re focusing more on his personal rehabilitation than when he’ll be back playing footy again,” Jourdain told AAP.
“When and how long that will take I cannot say.
“He’s been undergoing counselling since November and there’s a number of aspects to that.”
Jourdain said he was aware that there is pressure on the club to sack Lui after he was handed a good behaviour bond by a judge in Sydney.
However, he said the game and the club had a duty to help the halfback, but would have no choice but to show him the door should he step out of line again.
“This is an issue that is going to polarise people and we have to accept that people will be upset if he comes back too soon,” he said.
“But there are specific circumstances around Robert that only he and his partner will know about.
“The way society works is that if someone does the wrong thing, then the first course of action is to try and rehabilitate them and he was handed a good behaviour bond by the judge in a court of law.
“What I will say is give him an opportunity in an environment where his family are around him and can work to help rehabilitate him.”
Lui and Backo are back living together in Townsville and Jourdain said the couple are working through their problems with professional counsellors who’ll decide when it’s the right time for him to return.”
“I think putting an arbitrary time frame on when he’ll be back is not appreciative of the rehabilitation process,” he said.
“I am completely open-minded and relying on our professional counsellors.
“Helping Robert was something we were obligated to do and he knows he’s on a short leash with us and, if he does anything else wrong, then he’s out.”
