Cronulla Sharks captain Paul Gallen has butted heads with Australian journalist Peter FitzSimons over the "summer from hell" for the NRL and how its players are treating women.
The pair were panelists on Channel Nine's Sports Sunday when FitzSimons challenged Gallen, asking "why do NRL players have such an appalling record – leaving the current cases out of it, looking back over the last 10 years – with women?"
Gallen, who is married with a daughter, was quick to fire back.
"Fitzy, I take offence to that. Let’s not let your agenda against rugby league be brought into this," Gallen said.
"I think you’re using women in a bad way there. Unfortunately, there’s one woman killed every week in domestic violence. That’s not NRL players. That’s society.
"The problem in society against women is an issue and it’s something that I sit very strongly here about; I can’t stand violence against women."
The debate has been a hot topic over the offseason with the likes of Jarryd Hayne, Ben Barba, Dylan Walker and Jack de Belin all in the headlines for charges involving abuse towards women.
Things escalated last week when Penrith Panthers player Tyrone May had a sex tape surface which led to him being charged with two counts of recording intimate image without consent and two counts of disseminate image without consent.
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