KIERSTEN DUKE: Jonathan Thurston-Spencer Leniu stoush lifts the lift on how NRL players deal with the media

The relationship between rugby league players and the media has always been a tricky one.

Often it’s a love-hate relationship, with players feeling the need to defend themselves against comments made about them and their team.

Rarely these situations get out of hand, but as we saw after Friday night’s Roosters-Broncos game, sometimes things go nuclear.

Spencer Leniu taking it upon himself to approach Johnathon Thurston in front of a stadium of 40,000 fans over his racism ban last year was a recipe for disaster.

But it’s not this scenario I want to discuss. It’s the delicate relationship between two professionals. One in the media and one an athlete.

This isn’t the first time a relationship between has been fractured. Dual international and former South Sydney enforcer Ben Te’o had an angry run in with Nine sports reporter Danny Weidler at a press conference in 2014. Te’o called Weidler a “germ” after the journo aired allegations of an assault against the star forward.

And just two weeks ago we saw 2016 Sharks premiership winning player Andrew Fifita call out a journalist for using his name to sell a story online. The story was about the Sharks-Bulldogs game where Reed Mahoney landed himself in some hot water. It was reported that Fifita, who was on the sidelines with the Sharks, exchanged words with Sitili Tupouniua after he was sin binned.

I don’t want to examine each of these incidents and who was in the right and who was in the wrong but to take a step back and open up the discussion around how both athletes and media professionals can continue to do their jobs to the best of their ability alongside each other.

That’s sometimes hard to do when a person in media is paid to have an opinion, and a league player is within their right to defend their name.

Maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’s not about asking the media to refrain from expressing strong opinions, but it’s about the way they express them.

Remember when you were a kid, and your mum would say to you “it’s not what you said it’s the way you said it”, perhaps mum did know best?

We in the media need to remember that our articles can result in a huge social media pile on for our subjects and sometimes ourselves. We need to make sure that we criticise a person’s actions rather than their character. Equally, players need to remember that those producing the news have nothing personal against them and like them, are just doing their job.

No one wants to tear down another human being for the fun of it. But poor behaviour is naturally met with criticism. We’ve all grown up knowing this. Something else we’ve all also grown-up knowing is that if you put yourself in the spotlight you’re opening yourself up to more opinions on your behaviour.

Therefore, if you behave in a distasteful manner, it’s highly likely to be met with a poor response. This is probably why, as someone in the public eye, you earn a pretty decent wage.

A wage that most everyday Aussies would kill to be on, even if it comes hand in hand with some negative publicity every now and then.

While the media gets a bad wrap for causing unnecessary stress to NRL players lives. It’s also important to remember that the media is a tool players can take advantage of. Not only does it give them airtime which increases their popularity for commercial opportunities off the field, but often it also gives them a job post-retirement.

It’s an awkward relationship at times. I’m not entirely sure how it can run more smoothly, but I do believe that on a whole the partnership between professional athletes and the media can be a productive one for both parties.