“It was a long season and we get that one time to let our hair down, especially with a couple of guys we won’t play with again,” Fine said. “We thought we were in a safe environment because it was a private function. It’s meant to just be a group of us and no one from the public around, especially cameras and that. “Things panned out different.” In the thick of the action: Asipeli Fine takes on the Panthers in round eight of last season. Credit:NRL Imagery Unbeknown to the Bulldogs, their skylarking was being captured for posterity via the telephoto lenses of a media outlet. Fine and teammate Adam Elliott woke up the next morning to find themselves splashed across the front page of The Daily Telegraph, dancing nude to the strains of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline.

“I’ve woken up when my missus called me,” Fine said. “She said, 'You’re all over the news'. I’ve seen the pictures and I just thought, how could they have taken those pictures from street level, you can’t see up there? “She knows what I’m like, I’m pretty quiet, I keep to myself. She knew straight away when she saw the news that my head space would be pretty crap. Of course you get emotional when you have your rear end on the news. Asipeli Fine “Everyone got emotional. Of course you get emotional when you have your rear end on the news. “To have just a one or two-minute thing, it made me look like I’ve been in a bad light my whole playing career.

“Most of all, I felt bad for my parents. Within the Tongan community, everyone talks. The last thing I wanted is for people to say that my parents raised me wrong. “That’s what really broke me. My dad went quiet for a couple of days. It was pretty heartbreaking.” Fine was not a public figure before this. His NRL career had consisted of just 13 appearances for Wests Tigers and Canterbury. Still living with his parents and his grandmother at the age of 26, he was building a footballing career with the responsibility of being the main breadwinner for his family. It was Fine’s way of paying back his parents for all the sacrifices they made to give him and his sister a better life after they arrived from Tonga in 1989. “Once I played footy, I put the emphasis on me to pay back my parents and make sure I look after them,” he said. “I’ve been the main [income earner] in the household for ages now. I felt like I’ve let my family down without footy being there, because that was the main income.”

In isolation, the fallout from Mad Monday was enough to leave Fine at breaking point. Yet a few days later, worse was to come. Playing for Canterbury’s NSW Cup side, the former Tongan international was involved in a sickening collision that left him with a dislocated hip and fractured pelvis. Medicos described the injuries as akin to those sustained in a car accident and the initial prognosis was they were career-ending. Down and out: Fine is carried off after suffering a serious injury late in the season. Credit:NRL Imagery The timing couldn’t be worse: the Mad Monday incident continued to make headlines; Fine was in hospital as his Bulldogs NSW Cup side marched towards grand final glory; and his contract was about to expire. “Mentally, I was pretty much living in hell on Earth,” Fine said. The Bulldogs recently released their 29-man squad for next season. Fine wasn’t a part of it. He remains clubless, but is adamant his career isn’t over. The rugged forward has stunned doctors with the speed of his recovery, resulting in him being available for pre-season training if a club is prepared to give him another opportunity.

In the interim, he is putting his certificate IV in community services to good use; last week he was back in Belmore to help run a clinic for disabled children. Loading “It’s encouraging to be able to show the public how much of a wonderful man he is,” said Fine’s high-profile lawyer, Elias Tabchouri. “The fact is that two minutes of locker-room antics, essentially in a situation where he had no idea anyone was watching, have led to his family suffering substantially, him suffering substantially and, ultimately, jeopardising his future.” Most of all, Fine doesn’t want what happened on that Monday night in September to be how he is remembered.

“Now the situation I’m in with no club, it’s affected my footy career,” he said. “I would give everything to have it back; just to save my family the embarrassment. “I just need that opportunity [to play football] again and I’ll take it with both hands.”