Jules 'covering for his mates', legend claims

One of the founding stars of reigning Picket League premiers, the Brisbane Bolts, has come out strongly in defence of the club’s star leeward thruster, Jules “Scatto” Neal.
Origin of the Species legend Gil "The Hatchet-Meister" Trevors says even Neal could not have been capable of all of the sickening behaviour alleged against him in a series of pre-season incidents in Newcastle. It was more than likely that Neal was taking the blame to cover up for some of his more unruly team-mates.
"The trouble is that if you throw a lot of shit, some of it is going to stick and I think that's what's happened here," Trevors said.
"I'm calling on Jules to come clean on what went on that night," the game's most famous rear trench ratchet told The Bug in an exclusive interview. In a personal and heart-felt emotional appeal to his former clubmate, Trevors said: "Jules, you might think it's un-Australian to dob in your mates, but for heaven's sake, save your career. If nothing else, do this for your wife, family and mistresses."
Trevors said he did not want his comments to be construed by anyone to mean that he thought Neal was squeaky clean and did not deserve some form of punishment for what went on in Newcastle.
"If the news reports are correct, then Jules has really done a big job not only on himself but others, but I know he's man enough to cop it on the chin," Trevors said.
The Bolts and Star Picket League legend from the game's divided years and who gave the game away when he was jailed for 12 years in 1987 for an off-field killing, said everyone knew that Neal was a man of slit personalities who constantly lived in the emergency breakdown lane of life.
"Look, we all know that Jules is just about uncontrollable when he's on the turps," Trevors said. "He knows he's got a big, big problem with the turps and that's why he's been sticking to beer and basic spirits for the past seven years."
"It sounds to me that someone's spiked his drinks in Newcastle and he's not prepared to send them down the river over it."
"The irony of all this is that when Jules is sober, he's the gentlest, most decent man I've ever met.
"Jules first came into the Bolts training squad just before my retirement, and he wouldn't even come out for a drink after a game. He spent his nights doing volunteer work at various spastic kiddies' hospices and was often late for training after finishing his daily Meals on Wheels and Soup Kitchen runs.
"He could have made millions out of the royalties for a softwear program he designed some years ago to enable autistic kiddies to interface more with the real world, but has directed all that money to a range of children's and other charities."
"And who hasn't been touched by seeing him on the players' bench during big matches knitting tea cosies to make money for worthy causes at school fetes."
Trevors blamed Neal's latest run-in with the game's administrators - and the recent brouhaha involving Test cricketer Ricky Ponting in Sydney's Bourbon and Beef Steakhouse – on a breakdown in camaraderie among players in elite sporting teams.
"In my day, you used to look after your mates, especially if you were all tying one up after a big win.
"I remember the very first time Jules came out with us. We'd had a really big win, getting up by one death over the South Melbourne Serial Killers right on the final explosion to end the second holocaust.
"We picked up these couple of sheilas in the city mall and took them up to a bush track on Mount Coot-tha for a little bit of harmless fun.
"It was the first time I'd seen Jules have a drink - he'd gotten word earlier in the day that a little dark chappie he'd been sponsoring through World Vision for the past five years had tragically died of food poisoning - and the change in his behavior was frightening.
"The things he did on the younger of the two sheilas were quite inappropriate even though she didn't seem to mind too much.
"A few of us immediately pulled him into line by making him untie and let her great grandmother go."
"That mateship and buddy system where we all stopped one another from stepping over that invisible line of decent behaviour seems to be missing from the modern game and that's a crying shame," Trevors said.