Tim Simona had five pages and an accompanying video to tell his story. You know the one: where he bet on other teams, rorted charities, took cocaine, fed pokies and forced a woman to have an abortion.
But when his former partner, Jaya Taki, told her side of the story last week he decided to send me a tweet: "Are you done yet champ?"
I was hoping we were.
But I noticed Simona decided to like a few tweets in the hours after that one that caught my eye. Some he lauded were critical of me – that's par for the course. But it was a bit rich favouriting a comment relating to Taki's foundation, which she started after her brother died from cancer.
'Never taken money from charity': Tim Simona's former partner has hit out at claims she took money from her foundation.
The comment read, in part: "Has anyone thought about reporting her to the police for charities fraud?" And Simona wants us to forgive him? Remember he pretended to be raising money for kids' cancer charity, Camp Quality.
Taki wants to set the record straight in relation to her foundation.
"If there was one story that has severely damaged my reputation, it's the story about me 'scamming my own charity'," she said. "I've sat back for over a week and discussed with my family whether or not it's worth discussing it publicly and, of course, it absolutely is. When the NRL sat with me, they took my entire Whatsapp conversation. I was unaware they were going to take everything. Unfortunately, much of our heat-of-the-moment fights, jokes and banter have become headline news and taken wildly out of context, including this 'scam'."
When it came to her charity, Taki says she and Simona sold three jerseys and raised $1700 in total. Two of those payments were deposited into the foundation bank account and the other was $500 in cash. Because NRL players do not get free jerseys, just a discount, they were required to pay $130 for each jumper, a total cost of $390. That leaves a $1310 profit.
"Tim asked to be paid and asked for half," Taki said. "I have not used a single cent of any money raised for myself. Here is the mistake I've made and one I must own up to. If you actually know me, you would know I'm a people pleaser and although I'm incredibly strong-willed and confrontational, I struggled to be forthright with Tim in the first few months of our relationship. I didn't want to come across difficult, so when he said he wanted half of the proceeds, I went along with it, something I have never, ever done before. I'm so angry with myself and I apologise."
Taki says her decision to allow Simona to profit from her charity was based on her insecurity.
"I was always insecure about his feelings towards me, but one consistency was his interest in me when it came to raising that money and placing bets. I didn't know he had a gambling problem, so it didn't raise alarm bells. I did it for his attention. I can't tell you how embarrassed I feel to admit that I helped him gamble and raise money just so he didn't lose interest in me. He received his half and I donated the rest to my foundation.
"In regards to his other deceptions, West Tigers fans were the ones that alerted the media to the Camp Quality scamming, not me. I had no idea about any of it."
The text messages of the pair talking about "splitting" the proceeds of charity appear damning on the surface. "We also go on to to joke about selling personal videos of ourselves to raise funds," she said. "Whilst some may not understand our humour, we joked around a lot."
Taki's foundation runs a program called "Healthy Inside Out". It teaches the importance of healthy lifestyles in the prevention of disease.
"In December 2015 I organised a walkathon for a friend of mine who had cancer and we raised $50,000 for him," she said. "Anyone with cancer does not pay to be treated by me [she's a colon therapist]. My foundation has positively affected thousands of lives, especially young lives. It's in honour of my brother who passed away, and instead of feeling sorry myself, I've created something positive out of my loss."
Why didn't Tigers ask hard questions?
Here is an interesting spin-off from the Tim Simona story. Before that broke, Kyle Lovett was waiting to front the board over a well-documented drugs issue. Given that the club was well over the salary cap, the pressure was on to sack Lovett to make the Tigers cap compliant.
Fortunately for Lovett, the Simona issue solved the club's cap problems. Lovett fronted the board and with the pressure off, they went easy on Lovett.
More importantly, Lovett was not interrogated about the night out where he was charged with cocaine possession, to which he subsequently plead guilty.
This column understands the board may have got some answers they didn't want to hear about what goes on at the club, much in line with Simona's revelations about drug use.
Interestingly, neither the club nor the NRL have had any desire to investigate Simona's allegations.
Drug offence: Kyle Lovett avoided a conviction for having a small amount of cocaine.Credit: Getty Images
Eagles infighting not be over yet
The decision by Bob Fulton and Tim Cleary to bury the hatchet is admirable, but it's not working. Tension is still high and ready to spill over at any moment.
Kristie Fulton, whom the club sacked, has engaged lawyers and will be taking legal action about her dismissal. This column understands management and Cleary will have further discussions this week.
Reynolds a Shark?
The Sharks have been making subtle inquiries about Josh Reynolds, which makes you think they are concerned Jack Bird may be seriously considering the big-money offers from the Knights and Parramatta.
Cronulla's offer is at least $100,000 light a year and while Bird will stay for less at the Sharks, it can't be that much less.
We know Reynolds and Bird play very different roles, but the similarity is they are both high-energy players who are always on the ball.
Reynolds is also a great mate of former Shark Michael Ennis.
Robbie has last laugh
You would have to think that Robbie Farah would have sore hands from doing cartwheels over the past week, given the demise of Jason Taylor.
Taylor's treatment of Farah was nothing short of a disgrace. There is no question that Farah has been thinking about karma and Taylor, but the overwhelming emotion he's been feeling is sick in the stomach.
Sick that he had to go through the embarrassment of being told that he was a reserve grader when he was a State of Origin hooker. Sick that Taylor pushed him out of the club. Sick that he was dragged through months of speculation. All for nothing. The inept management at the Tigers have plenty to explain.
The only upside for Farah is that when he finishes his career at Souths he has a four-year ambassador role waiting for him at the Tigers.
And all of those who have made his life difficult won't be at the club by then.
'Panther for life'
With the Ivan Cleary move to the Tigers looking more likely than not, talk has centred on Nathan Cleary joining his father. But Nathan removed his get-out clause from his last contract deal. It was only there because his previous deal was signed when he was a kid, and it made sense for a young Nathan to move with his family.
Panthers general manager Phil Gould says Nathan has a deal with Penrith until the end of 2019. "He'll be a Panther for life," Gould said.
The media grilled Cleary jnr about his dad during the week and he handled the questions with class and maturity.
Joe and tell
We tipped a few weeks back that John Lee was under huge pressure to keep his gig as Sydney Roosters chief executive, and he has since been sacked. It is interesting to note that he was helping Fox Sports identity Ben Ikin with his contract last year, so maybe Lee sees a future as a manager.
There is talk that the Roosters new boss will be former Souths and Manly official Joe Kelly.
Tough school
The greatest Australian Schoolboys side in history, the 1977 rugby union side, is having its 40th reunion next week in Manly.
To get an indication of the quality of the team, Tony Melrose and Mark Ella were fighting it out for the five-eighth spot, Michael Hawker and Wally Lewis were vying for the inside-centre position, Glen Ella was fullback and dual international Michael O'Connor was also a member. The stars are endless.
They were undefeated on a 16-match tour of Britain and Ireland.
"Our coach, Geoff Mould, used to say to us that we'd be risking our spot in the team if we kicked the ball during the game," Lewis said. "It was a fun way to play rugby and we got the results."