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Does rugby league need Greg Bird?

4th May, 2015
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Greg Bird (Digital image by Shane Wenzlick, copyright nrlphotos.com)
Expert
4th May, 2015
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Serial offender Greg Bird faces a six-week ban if he accepts a dangerous throw charge after he threw Kiwi winger Jason Nightingale in last Sunday’s Test against New Zealand at Suncorp.

But an eight-week ban awaits if Bird fights the charge and loses.

Bird hasn’t a hope in hell of beating the ban, so the six weeks will put him out of Origin 1 selection.

Does NSW Origin coach Laurie Daley really need a hot-head like Bird anyway? And does rugby league need Bird at all?

The answer is a double no.

Just take the Nightingale incident in isolation.

It’s the 74th minute, the Kiwis are well in command and in no danger of losing, so Bird dangerously upends Nightingale.

For what reason, the game was done and dusted?

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It was a stupid move from the Bird-brained forward.

What makes the charge worse is the fact it’s the sixth dangerous throw charge in Bird’s career. It keeps company with his first charge of kneeing Rabbitoh winger Shane Marteene in the head that earned a ten-week suspension in 2004, and a striking charge in 2011 for a one-week ban.

But six dangerous throw charges demands a whole lot more attention than a minimum six-week holiday.

How many times will the judiciary allow Bird to run amok before he sends a hapless opponent into the life of a cripple?

And how many times will an obvious dangerous throw be ignored by referees who cross their arms to indicate the incident is on report, a cop-out, instead of reaching immediately for the red card?

Bird is fast heading into the most suspended NRL footballers of all time.

John Hopoate is the undisputed leader with a total of 45 weeks suspension during his 13-year career.

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Luke O’Donnell and Craig Smith share 32 weeks, then Danny Williams 28, with Adrian Morley and Jason Stevens sharing 26.

Bird’s on 21 weeks, so the six-week ban will take him past Morley and Stevens. If there’s any justice, that will be the end of it for the 30-year-old Bird because his off-field misdemeanours don’t make pretty reading either, especially as he awaits cocaine charges later this month.

It’s time for the judiciary to be consistent and start weeding out the real troublemakers that give the great game of rugby league a bad name.

That applies to another hot-head in Josh Reynolds.

How come he faces a one-week ban for tripping in last Sunday’s City-Country game, when he copped two weeks last season for tripping Ben Barba?

Simply, nobody can pick what the judiciary will do.

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