South Sydney star George Burgess has plenty of support as he prepares to contest the grading of his bottle-throwing brain snap contrary conduct charge.
The English prop will plead his case at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night in the hope of playing in the second week of the NRL finals – if the Rabbitohs’ title defence is still alive.
Having pleaded guilty to the charge he copped for throwing a water bottle from the bench at Sydney Roosters rival Kane Evans in last Friday’s loss he’s already set to be banned from Sunday’s elimination final against Cronulla.
But he will attempt to get it downgraded from a grade two offence to grade one, meaning he would get only a one-match ban instead of two.
The match review committee’s decision to slap Burgess with a potential two-game ban has revived debate about the merits of a fine system.
The NRL came down hard on Burgess because he was sitting on the bench when he hurled the plastic water bottle at Evans.
It’s a bad look for a code which had a problem with fans throwing objects earlier this season.
But there were plenty who believed a two-match ban in the final was too harsh for the offence.
“You see guys trip, headbutt, punch and nothing gets done but throw a water bottle at someone and you are better off clocking someone,” Brisbane forward Corey Parker said.
“I don’t condone it but to miss two games for it, I don’t know. It sets a precedent.”
Cronulla captain Paul Gallen said he believed Burgess would probably succeed in getting a downgrade and be available for the second week of finals.
“Missing two games, semi-final games, is harsh,” Gallen told Sky Sports Radio.
“But I don’t think anyone can doubt that the incident itself was a little bit silly.
“A fine and a talking to probably would have been a little bit better.
“I think he’ll probably get a downgrade.”
Former NRL judiciary chairman Paul Conlon agreed a grade one charge and a fine for Burgess would have been more appropriate.
“There are some things which I have believed for a while might be better off taken care of by way of a fine rather than a suspension,” Conlon told Sky Sports Radio.
“In my view, this action is one of those.”
Conlon said the system needed to be changed to allow more flexibility for fines to be imposed on players who face scrutiny from the match review committee.
“There is an argument that some of those should be dealt with, not by way of suspending a player for a week or two weeks, by way of a fine,” he said.
Conlon, who is a district court judge, said in some cases suspensions from the last round of the regular season should not carry over into the finals.
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