The NRL’s hardline decision to stand down James Tamou for State of Origin game two was taken after it emerged the NSW prop had three passengers in the car he was driving unlicensed and almost four times over the legal limit.
Tamou was fined $50,000 on Wednesday and will miss two matches after being arrested in the early hours of Monday morning.
AAP understands the 24-year-old was driving the car with three females in the passenger seats when stopped by police at around 3.30am in the Townsville suburb of North Ward.
The representative prop was initially to be fined $30,000 but NRL chief executive Dave Smith ordered the code’s integrity unit to increase the penalty after expressing his disgust that he put the lives of others in danger.
Tamou would have been a certain starter for the second Origin clash in Brisbane on June 26, where a win would see the Blues seal a first series victory since 2005.
NSW coach Laurie Daley names his side for game two on Sunday with Penrith’s Tim Grant, Wests Tigers youngster Aaron Woods and veteran Newcastle front-rower Willie Mason all in the mix for selection.
Mason could be the front-runner if he has a big game against Melbourne on Sunday just hours before Daley names his side at Rugby League Central in Sydney.
Grant has not been named in the Penrith side to face Canberra on Saturday due to a broken hand but could be a late inclusion in a bid to reclaim his Blues spot after being overlooked for game one.
Woods doesn’t have another opportunity to stake a claim with the Tigers not playing until Monday against Brisbane.
NSW centre Michael Jennings, whose own career has been hit by setbacks stemming from off-field incidents, said he felt sympathy for Tamou.
“It’s sad to see such a quality player miss out on such a great opportunity,” Jennings told AAP.
“I am pretty sure he’ll learn and bounce back.
“He knows he’s stuffed up. He knows he’s let his team and his state down and I am sure he’ll come back firing.
“He’s had to learn the hard way.”
The Sydney Roosters star also backed his close friend Grant, who he has known since they were eight-year-olds, to fill the front-row void.
“I’d love to see Timmy get another crack after going so well last year,” he said.
“He is built for Origin and he’ll do a great job if he gets another go at it.”
Under-fire North Queensland coach Neil Henry, whose job is in jeopardy after five straight losses, said Tamou was full of remorse for his actions.
He admitted it’s added to the problems his side face ahead of Friday’s clash with St George Illawarra, but ordered his players to maintain their focus.
“It’s not setting a good example but we know that,” Henry said in Townsville before boarding a flight to Sydney.
“He’s remorseful about it, the damage is done there and we move on. He’s going to pay a heavy penalty for it and we agree with it.
“Rugby league players have to be able to focus on their game and getting away from any distractions.
“There’ll be things in the back of their mind but they are focused on getting a win for the club, themselves and their fans.”
Bigjohn
Guest
Spot on once again Boatman, possibly just let his licence expire. Easy enough to do. And his legal eagle will ask for a reduction on the fine...... Re the high range reading of .19 , the highest reading for a man I have seen was .42, and a woman at .36. I will say that .19 for someone of his build, would suggest that the grog was given a fair workout ( allegedly )
Bigjohn
Guest
Perhaps he was planning to put a bit of Kiwi in someone else
Boatman of River Styx
Guest
Unlicensed usually means he doesn't have a license, rather than being disqualified or suspended. Custodial sentences for disqualified driver are usually only considered for the 3rd or 4th time they are caught doing it.
Raugeee
Guest
By unlicenced do we mean disqualified? If it does he could be looking at a custodial sentence.
Football_illiterate
Guest
youre right maximillian.. however i dont like the idea f instituting a process to deal with an issue and then go outide of the process the first time its to be used.. and to be fair, my rant was probably not best placed as a reply to you - but once i got going :-)....
maximillian
Guest
yea all good points there FI & difficult to argue against any of them. Im more coming from the perspective that prior to the integrity unit, this would've been left to the Cowboys to discipline Tamou. They are on the verge of the wooden spoon & the coach is under fire so it puts them in a precarious situation when disciplining 1 of their best players. I don't know if he would have got the suspension without the integrity unit as any team in the Cows position need their players on the field more than anything, so I like the idea of an entity independent of the clubs to deal with off field issues.
Boatman of River Styx
Guest
With respect, if he has been fined and punished for the same offence elsewhere, the court will take it into account. It won't make a difference to disqualifying his driver's license, but it will in regard to the fine he receives. Right or wrong, that will be the situation.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
Actually the court will take some of that into consideration. That said, being unlicenced and high range drink driving is pretty bad, so he will get a pretty long suspension from driving.
Raugeee
Guest
I feel the court won't take any notice of what his employers did. Nor should they!
Damn Straight
Roar Rookie
Gold. 24 carat gold.
Razza
Guest
It is not a nice look for NRL, but do we have to have HEADLINES, this guy is being punished by the law, the NRL and now his peers, if Billy Blogs did the same thing you wouldn't hear anything about it. He made a mistake, does he have to carry the burden for the rest of his life, give him a go, missing S of O - 2 would be ripping his guts out. Once bitten twice shy. "GO THE EAGLES" and "GO THE BLUES'
Boatman of River Styx
Guest
Going to gaol was never on the table for this. Fine and license/match suspension instead. He'll think twice about doing it again. With 3 girls in the car, sounds like lust made him do it.
oikee
Guest
Agree, but being punished in the hip pocket hurts more than 3 meals a day with tv and a 1 hour workout doing hardtime, trust me. Dugan was sacked, without pay, he soon got back into the swing of things to pay for his power pops. Hitting them in the hip pocket is a wake-up call. When you haven't got 2-bob to scratch yourself soon wakes you up. All is well and good having the million dollar home, the fancy car, the Cesnock 300 with in-flight recorder, but having to pay for maintinence, rego, and rates soon catch up with even multi millionaires. Look at Tinky Tinkler.
Boatman of River Styx
Guest
Maybe the girls were armed with stilletto shoes and forced him to drink and drive. Sort of like what Te'o says happened to him.
Boatman of River Styx
Guest
His lawyer will argue at court that Tamou has already been heavily fined and punished by the NRL. He'll receive a license suspension and little else on the basis that you can't be punished twice. That's not to say that it isn't a serious offence but the court will make allowances for what the NRL has already done. In my opinion anyway.
clipper
Guest
Couldn't agree more oikee - the girls as well as being, as you say, tipsy, may also have been young and ditsy and therefore the onus of responsibility would be more on Tamou. Let's not forget that it wasn't slightly over the limit - it was 4 times, so 0.2, which is a very dangerous range to be driving in.
Football_illiterate
Guest
except the process didnt work in this case. the integrity unit recommended standing down for 2 games and then smith came in over the top and decided there should be a 20k fine too.. so whats the point of the integrity unit - good question.. if gallop got fired for being too reactive, smith must feel grants breath on the back of his neck.. i havent seen any proactivactivty from smith except for him appointing 7 middle managers (how very bank-like of him) and create a purpose-built integrity unit he disregards.. whoever gets pinged next had better hope smith has had a good week and doesnt decide to overrule coz he is still pissed off over a weeks bad media for the gallen tiff.. humour me with a slight oikism... mr reactivity: - drug issue. Done nothing but react and completely lost control of the agenda.. Observe difference between Demitriou and Smith and Cronulla v Essondon.. - gallen tiff. a warning not to do it again.. Pfft.. Should have come out with somehting positive in support of game with appropriate warnings etc.. Theres been no real acknowledgement of how good the game was.. its been completely lost in teh hysteria of commentators comparing it to assaults int he street.. - tamou issue. reacts to a poor weeks media by overruling his purpose built integrity unit. - second tier salary cap issue - didnt even react. and teh process took young moylens opportunity to play first grade away, you cant tell me they havent known this was going to be an issue for enough to time to actually fix it.. thats what i can think of off the top of my head - what have i missed?? granted he only been in job for 4 months, and he may be appointing people to deal with some of these issues but the game is massively lacking leadership atm.. the clock is ticking.
maximillian
Guest
I initially thought a 50K fine was too harsh but this whole episode is getting worse, so the fine is justified. The integrity unit is a good initiative by the NRL so glad to see the new system works instead of relying on biased clubs to discipline players for off field issues. This is definitley a step in the right direction by the NRL so hopefully the players can get the message & learn from Tamou's mistakes.
oikee
Guest
Lets not cloud the issue, all the girls might have been tipsy as well. The point is , he never even had a licience. We can blame who we wish, but the only person who can kill in that car is Tamou. The buck has got to stop somewhere or we might as well all get our heads punched in because we all need as good compliment for being respectful and showing care. Lets not blacken another head, lets not shoot ourselves in both feet, give ourselves a uppercut and a broken nose trying to defend wrong. Wrong is wrong. Dont defend it or you become a law unto yourself, just Llike Gallen. Once we get past denial it becomes easier for all of us. amen. Why wait for something bad to happen, the carnage, the sorrow. We all know the outcomes, we all know who suffers the most, lets not try to defend the indefendable. We know what is right, dont cloud the issue, dont make the truth fuzzy. It will end up doing your head in,.
BOB_Down
Guest
Surely these ladies in the car are responsible for their own actions, and this doesn't make the incident any worse. The fact that they were female also seem to being played up in the media, surely their sex is irrelevant, or is a woman's life worth more than a mans. He did the wrong thing and was punish, lets move on. Next time an actor, celebrity, Judge, politician etc, is caught drunk driving there needs to be a similar action taken, surely the people are role model as much if not more so the a footy player.