OPINION: Is the Brandon Smith swear-fest the way of the future?

OPINION

A few years back I found myself on the hiring side of an interview panel when a candidate sat down to tell us why we should employ him.

His CV was solid, he ticked most of the boxes and talk soon turned to mutual people we knew in the industry.

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"Yeah, I used to work for that c***. He really f***ed me over…a complete c***," he said of one individual.

Wow.

Language in a newsroom can get spicy but it was still a shock to hear such strong expletives in an interview.

When he left I assumed he'd ruined any chance of getting the gig.

Not so. The others on the panel didn’t even mention it and didn’t think it was a game breaker when I brought it up.

"He'd fit in pretty well here. And he's right about that bloke – he is a c***," one laughed.

I was always led to believe you keep your language appropriate for the occasion and what you may say after five schooners in the public bar differs from the vocabulary in a job interview or when representing your firm.

Which brings us to Melbourne Storm explorer Brandon Smith - the cheese that went off.

Once universally loved for his roughish behaviour and out-there humour, Smith is fast heading into half-wit territory after playing the role of sleazy travelling salesman, hocking his wares while dissing the club paying his bills and covering his arse.

Yet the latest outrage centres not on Smith's love-in for all things Bondi – or the middle finger shown Storm – but the language he used in a podcast.

The Daily Telegraph counted 61 F-bombs and three C-bombs during a 56-minute chat with former player Isaac John on the YKTR podcast.

The NRL will send Smith a breach notice coupled with a $5-10,000 fine for bringing the game into disrepute.

But who was offended and does it really bring the game into disrepute?

Not according to many fans, many of whom quite rightly point out Michael Maguire swore more times in Tales of Tigertown than his side managed complete sets.

The media world has changed and the NRL is dealing with a beast it knows little about with these rogue – if that's the word – podcasts.

More and more players are using social media to convey their message, side-stepping traditional organisations for fear spin being put on their words.

And within this loose environment, players are going to say things and use inappropriate language that was once considered verboten.

And fans, for the most part, love it.

Smith certainly should have toned it down and acted more professionally, surely realising his words would spread way beyond the YKTR brethren.

If anyone should be swearing, it's the Melbourne Storm hierarchy who have been dudded on an industrial-sized scale by a player destroying his legacy with each passing day.

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