For good reason because you never know when you might be made to look like a fool.

We've been burnt and disappointed by those we once thought were "one of the good guys" enough times that it will never feel completely safe to praise the character of a footballer.

But I'll risk it.

I like Sam Thaiday, as a player and as a person, and I think he deserves to finish his career a Bronco.

As a player, there is no current Bronco under more pressure after reports "Slamming Sam" has been given six weeks to prove his worth to the club he once led onto the park.

The explosive forward had his weight criticised in the pre-season and after a round one shocker has spent the past fortnight on the bench.

It's undeniable that Thaiday deserved to be reprimanded for the three penalties he gifted the Rabbitohs, and his benching has only seen a five-minute reduction in his game time anyway, but is one average showing enough to jettison a career Bronco?

Adam Blair ran for a paltry 33 metres in round one and it took another week and a historically poor effort for the serial slacker to be picked up by the media, back against the premiers Thaiday had run for 104.

I have been a critic of Thaiday in past seasons, the excruciatingly long experiment to turn him into a prop was painful and his captaincy always seemed like a marketing move that was distracting him from his on-field strengths

But on song, and in the 12 jersey, Thaiday is a player people watch rugby league for.

Tough, hard to contain and one of the best hole runners I've seen, Thaiday plays like the missing link between the old school and the modern forward cliche.

Sure "Third-man-in Thaiday" has a bit of grub in his game but as a Broncos and Queensland fan I'm OK with that, you have to have at least one in your team or it wouldn't be rugby league.

In my brief recent interactions with the back-rower I've always been left with the impression of a well-spoken man who is passionate about his community and aware of the privileges and opportunities afforded to him as an elite sportsperson.

I'll always remember dragging along a girlfriend, whose only point of difference between league and union was that the Rah-Rahs did "cheerleading" (lineouts), to a Broncos fan day last year.

The club had set up a touch field where children (and a few adults) could play with a couple of the first grade players.

More than a few of the Broncos were treating this as a chore, laughing among themselves but showing a noticeable amount of disinterest in what was surely something these kids would remember fondly for a long time.

Not Thaiday though, he acted like the biggest and most excited kid of all, encouraging, joking and laughing with all of the children, he even picked up one of the smallest kids over the heads of the opposition to let her score a try.

Want to guess the one footballer my girlfriend can remember and now actively supports?

It's not the first time I've been impressed by the curly haired wrecking ball's approachable and friendly attitude.

Sam also speaks with earnestness and humor about his work to promote health and education in schools and indigenous communities; he earned the NRL's Ken Stephens medal for community involvement in 2011.

Despite this, and alluded to in the opening stanza, a well-publicised night spent at Alhambra Lounge in 2008 with Karmichael Hunt and Darius Boyd is the unavoidable blemish on Thaiday's off-field exploits.

By his own admission Thaiday has worked to atone for the transgression and although a grown man acting like an adult shouldn't be celebrated, it remains the only scandalous headline to bear his name.

My point is that while he does not have a clean slate, Thaiday's work for the community and his popularity amongst Brisbane fans means he deserves to be treated with more respect by Wayne Bennett.

Not to mention Thaiday was playing for Australia only four months ago, and Queensland another four months before that, surely a patch of below-par form does not a 200 game club hero unmake.

Isn't this the same coach who has consistently continued to pick a fullback who hasn't seen career best form in club land since 2010?

With a bit of faith, a certain future at the club he grew up with and his confidence back I can't wait to see Sam continue to inspire children off the field, and terrify teams not in maroon and gold on it, for a few years yet.