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It took until round nine for big bad Barry Hall to enter the ring but while he didn’t land a knock-out punch this time, his latest brain fade certainly has the football world talking.
And it’s not just Hall’s anger management that’s been brought into question, but also the circumstances surrounding the incident that sparked his retaliation.
In particular, whether Scott Thompson acted within the spirit of the game.
The Kangaroos defender had been niggling away at Hall for most of the first half but it was when he knocked Barry over whilst doing up his shoe lace that Hall erupted in rage, grabbing Thompson in a vice like head lock and dragging him to the ground.
The Bulldogs are adamant Hall was unfairly targeted and Lindsay Gilbee protested yesterday, “he’s well within his rights to defend himself and I’d be disappointed if he missed games”.
On Melbourne radio Leigh Matthews agreed, taking a gentle swipe at Thompson’s integrity, suggesting his actions could possibly be judged as conduct unbecoming.
I doubt that will happen, but it does add to the confusion of what constitutes sportsmanship in the heat of battle.
To me though, the Kangaroos identified a weakness and looked to exploit it at any cost within the rules of the game, so why should they be facing condemnation for the tactic when it had the desired reaction?
Admittedly it didn’t have any bearing on the outcome of the game, but what’s to stop every team now employing a similar tactic?
You can’t help feeling just a little bit sorry for Hall, but at the end of the day he needs to be able to withstand this type of mental and physical pressure.
During the incident, the Kangaroos were at first completely helpless to break open the sleeper hold he had on Thompson, this was no ordinary wrestle!
Sensing the situation Rodney Eade exploded in the box and screamed down the phone to get Barry off; but the Kangaroos had the jump on him, taunting him, willing him to snap.
The Bulldogs runner then tried in vain to get Hall off the ground but again the Kangaroos continued to torment him on his way to the bench.
If you poke the bear for long enough, eventually he’ll get angry and this is exactly what happened.
Luckily and much to the relief of all Bulldogs fans, somehow on the brink of yet another potentially career ending fatality he remained composed. Well sort of anyway.
He’s on report for wrestling and misconduct but there is a chance that misconduct charge will be upgraded to rough conduct, making the matter far worse.
Considering he is carrying a 50% loading and has an existing poor record of 90 plus carry over points, you would have to think he’s in big trouble with the match review panel today.
He’ll have no option of an early plea either and might now end up being rubbed out for up to five weeks. That to me just doesn’t seem fair, but there the rules and Barry knows them.
“It’s disappointing but that’s just part of the game, unfortunately the rules cater for that sort of thing so you’ve just got to cop it” he said after the game.
Should there be any leniency for Barry due to the circumstances leading up to the incident?
Should the headlock sit within a misconduct charge or was the intent and force too strong for that classification?
Has Thompson acted outside the spirit of the game?
Hall left Sydney last year when he was unable to control his anger management issues, and since arriving at the Bulldogs he said less internal pressure has helped him overcome his demons, but if he can’t control external pressure or his fragile temper then what’s the point?
Clearly the chaos that unfolded on Saturday suggests he is still a serious liability on the field.
Unfortunately for Barry and the Bulldogs, it looks to be a case of when, not if, he eventually snaps again.
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