Some league fans are dinosaurs, craving the brutality of the good old days, while others opt for a cleaner, more professionally-run game. But there is one thing all fans have in common, they want consistency.
Fans see Sonny Bill Williams sit out three weeks for a tackle which was definitely high, however arguably unintentional. SBW was the second tackler involved, with Sam Moa making the initial contact, the subsequent body sandwich contributing to what seemed to be a shoulder charge from Sonny.
How could Sonny extend his arm? He physically could not.
Then there is the Andrew Fifita incident, where footage shows Fifita actually backing away towards his own goal-line when the ball-carrier runs into his shoulder. Note, again, there was another tackler involved (Fifita did not even remember the incident when informed about it). Still, Fifita cops a two-week ban.
While both these incidents warrant penalties, it seems bizarre they both received such lengthy bans. But I can handle these suspensions – they, together at least, seemed to be lines drawn in the sand.
That was until the Darcy Lussick suspension of four weeks. This was an incident that was intentionally high, made up of one tackler and without doubt a send-off offence.
Can you imagine the outcome if Jared Waerea-Hargreaves stayed down or was knocked out? Or if Waerea-Hargreaves was instead the tackler and Lussick the ball carrier? The Rooster would have been sent off in a heartbeat and given six or more weeks.
Perhaps Lussick’s four-week ban was warranted and put simply SBW’s and Fifita’s were a bit harsh, however most would concede, on comparison, something is amiss.
Leaving the incompetence of the referees not to march Lussick aside, let’s deal with the suspension of four weeks – just one more week than SBW and two more than Fifita. The message sent to players: if a ball carrier runs at you, don’t dare use your shoulder – hide it completely for fear of suspension. But should you decide to take someone’s head off with an old-fashioned iron bar, fear not, you will get roughly the same suspension.
‘Shoulder’ has unfortunately turned into a dirty word, attributed to thuggery or malice. Shoulder charges to the head should be penalised, but let’s not begin down the very slippery slope of penalising any contact of the shoulder with another player. Players could start to run around head-butting tackler’s shoulders to milk a penalty as a result of these two precedents.
The NRL is right to crackdown on concussion and shoulder charges to the head in the modern game, all the fans ask in return is consistency.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Andrew Johns thought he came up with a smart piece of analysis, only to be taken down by the Raiders halfback, then his own…
With Joey Manu on his way out the door at the Roosters to take up a lucrative rugby union offer, don't expect Trent Robinson…
Sam Walker was named in the reserves for the Roosters' Allianz Stadium match with Melbourne but Trent Robinson said the halfback had failed to…
Over the last two weeks while I’ve been watching the footy I’ve been reminded of the career of Nick Kyrgios. He is an incredibly…
This one will hurt. James Fisher-Harris’ unexpected exit from Penrith to the Warriors at season’s end not only has ramifications for those two clubs…
