Smithy looks punch-drunk after less than a season in charge

As a fan of the game, I don't have a problem with that at all.

Tim, firstly, good on you for responding. You at least have the courage to back up what you say. In your own words "If you take the physicality away for the sake of the do-gooders, Origin will die a lot faster than half a dozen stints in the sin bin". You do seem to be condoning it by implying without it, SOO could die. I don't believe this for a second. The ferocious defence and legitimate hits make for tremendous theatre without any punches. Obviously, just my opinion. More importantly though, is the Mother who like the rest of Australia is watching SOO and watching a brawl and thinks "my Son isn't playing this game, it's for thugs". I think responding to this is the right thing to do and is not a knee jerk reaction at all. How is it impractical? Everyone knows the risk and are unlikely to come rushing in throwing haymakers. So what if a game has 10 people in the sin bin? It will only happen once before players understand the implications, then we can go back to enjoying the football.

Yup BULLY: mate you sure chose the right 'pen name'... enjoy your life and I will continue to enjoy My Rugby League. By the way, your mum was probably being born the year that I started watching Rugby League so I do not really want to change to another Sport because of your opinion of me OR My chosen Sport. FYI: I do not want to change the game, but I do see changes being made that I like, not changes to the rules, just the way they are enforced. You enjoy your brand and I will enjoy Rugby league as it should be played -- Tough but Clean!.

Crosscoder, a few naughty boys blaming their actions on someone else? You definitely don't give kids enough credit mate. Sorry to report to you but school yard fights have been happening forever. I suggest you do a bit of background on Jack Gibson. The new rules are 10 minutes for anyone that throws one, so if 6-8 blokes get a bit heated they all go to the bin? Sorry but that's just an over reaction from Dave Smith. As you alluded to with Tallis, players have always been dealt with by either a simple penalty and a warning or 10 minutes in the bin, and it was usually only one or two, I was always cool with that. It was always at the discretion of the referees, which is the real heart of the matter here, they have forgotten how to show/exhibit/use it, because of them, the media blowup and Davos decision, this whole thing has turned into a "one punch can kill" campaign. But grog and gambling promotion is all sweet. IMO this knee jerk decision is just an admission of guilt and defeat to all the critics, opposers, haters and more importantly the competitors of Rugby League, when just 8 or so months ago the game was worth $1.3 billion, fast forward two punches later and the game is full of thugs and only supported by Neanderthals? Evolution works really fast apparently, please. Society is changing, once upon a time you could agree to disagree, now you just get told what to think, told what's good for you. I'm sick of talking about this, IMO Davo, along with the disgraceful timing of this new rule, has painted himself into a corner, lets see what happens. As for Tallis, I'll just assume he really likes his job at Fox.

David Smith spends half his day sifting through the integrity unit findings and the other half answering questions to boof-head reporters....... Meanwhile David Gallop is preparing for Rio.... Now who is the clown again....

With due respect Tim,if Gallen had been given 10 minutes ATT,we would not be arguing the point.Time in the bin can results in a team's loss ,or a cooling off period. The refs in SOO1 ,did not stamp their authority and were too concerned about fan reaction.Cripes that happens. It's always been there for a purpose.Tallis admitted he got binned twice in SOO and agrees with the new edict. I don't believe anyone has suggested that the new rule will ban the biff,due to emotions running over due to niggling,;leg twisting et al.To suggest most of us are somehow incapable of reading your considered thread,is a bit rich.Have a look at my earlier post,when I noted punches will still occur.Sheesh they happen in baseball. To suggest it was a kneejerk reaction when SOO was on the 5th June and the announcement was made on the 16th June,11 days later .if that is called speedy,then I am a 100m champion. I don't know Smith from a blade of grass but I suggest he would have discussed the matter with people such as Greenberg et al. and indeed Anderson,else he would have made the decision IMO within 24 hours.He's ex Army,Team work is part of the deal. I am not a fan of the D.T. as they happen to put anything on the front page,but they got the story,that';s what newspapers are all about. And BTW not every SOO game has involved the use of the biff,people have very short memories. If people are just watching SOO because they want to see biff ,as some have suggested,then the attention span has a problem. Biff will occur on occasions, however if the refs are doing their job and the players are silly enough to get sucked in at the 79th minute to let fly,then tough luck,10 in the bin. In Gallens situation he should have got 10min,a 3rd man in ditto.I have seen up to 4 sent to the bin in club matches,why should there be a difference in major games.Morley was sent off for a head high in England in 2003 against Oz.In the very first minute.The Poms played with 12 men. What happens with a professional foul in the last minute of a game.10 minutes.

Then TGGOA have a chat with Gallen ,who had a phone call from a group of school kids from the Hunter Valley,directed by their teacher.Why ? Because they admitted they were aping Gallen's punch in a game.Gallen admitted it was wrong. Sorry to report to you,but the biff was also prevalent in the "good old days". I won't even bother to respond to your Jack Gibson put down,except to say the majority of people who played under or against,or worked with him,woudld suggest take on board his thoughts(usually spot on) and indeed laugh at your calling him a mug. In any case the 10 minutes in the bin to cool off,will not stop the occasional fisticuffs,emotions run over.It will perhaps reduce the incidence.Let's face it half the biff ,starts because some clown twists a leg,choke holds a player or physically niggles. Tallis admitted on NRL 360 last night,he was sent to the bin on two occasions in SOO.He seems to think the new rule is a good idea. I didn't mind the biff in the past,I am over it.It is not a good look,if you want to sell the game to new markets. if you wish to remain concentrated in two states with negligible growth,then do nothing.

Jukes.Have a look at the Wagga Wagga debacle,when he was told another code was securing Council funding to play there ,and he responded ,something like why don't we get a slice of the action.Someone get down there and find out why. He had done next to no lobbying Govts for grants for facility improvement.The new admin under smith has already involved themselves with regular contacts at Govt and semi Govt level. The code never had a strategic plan in situ,that was done within 6 months of the new board's being put in place. As far as handling offfield issues,the clubs seemed to have influence and the penalties were not as harsh under the current regime,where they are acted upon immediately.And if the penalty is not considered suffiecient Smith lifts the bar.Ask Tamou. In fact during the offseason,it is fair to say the offield issues were non existent..So what has ahhppened with the 3 guys ain a short space of time is the exception rather than the rule. A line has been drawn in the sand for all players,they may now think twice.Although in the case of Dugan and Ferguson,thinking is not part of their brain matter. Don't get me wrong Gallop was a hard and passionate worker,but he was hamstrung by News Ltd ties,the fact during his NRL tenure he came across when offield incidents arose,as not being fully in control with his ums and aghs and not having the commanding presence of a Demetriou.He IMO lacked vision. I rarely if ever heard him say,rugby league is a great game and we are going to make it a bigger and better one. A bit of admin optimism never goes astray.. Ironically with soccer he is doing just that. For rugby league he was not a hard working promoter ,just a hard worker.

Referee authority is an issue that the game needs to look at too.

You have little confidence in Dave Smith. He took this action because of the fallout from Gallen trying to dictate his own ugly idea of how origin should be ruled or governed. I applaud this, and he has simply said that punching out as Gallen did in a pre-meditated revenge attack wont be tolerated. Apart from that one game where the whole 2 teasms got involved, i have never seen more than a couple of players from each team fight a all-in brawl. So drama and some reports go hand in hand. Lets not forget, they are only going to spend 10 in the bin for punching out, not sent off for good. I dont think it will stop fights completely, but it will make the players think harder about fighting in the future, and also stop the Gallen;s of this world from trying to take the law into their own hands. Gallen had been out of control for awhile now, he has been heard many times saying origin is different, origin has own rules, to the pint where he used the game as his puppet. This is merely telling the Gallens to pull their heads in, they dont run the game. Gallens outbursts after the fact were also appauling, i have never heard such tripe in my life, and with all the goupies and cheerleaders supporting his acts of revenge, it really got to a stage where the code had to act. Believing Gallen's ravings was a big mistake, backing them even bigger as Paul Kent learnt this week. As the walls of rugby league, player behaviour, all came crashing down all around NSWRL , the goupies, cheersquad, Gallen disciples quickly realised the game was falling apart at the seams, the damage it ws causing, huge, and they finally had to relent. If they did not, this would have brought into question the very ethics of what they game stood for, as even the junior coaches were questioning the sanity of NSW cheersquad. "Gallens fault" effect has been crushed, under the weight of decency. And rightfully so. As i said,. Nobody was buying what Gallen and Daeley for that matter, were trying to sell. it was cheap rubbish, same as Blocker Roach and his attack on Myles, utter rubbish.

Tim - regardless what anyone thinks of Smith it has been a massive knee jerk reaction. Hopefully he doesn't get sucked down into believing his role is all about hosing down controversies like Gallop did in the end. You're 100% right that refs can't possibly sin bin EVERY player that throws a punch...so with his knee jerk reaction he's set either them or himself up to fail...not the best management strategy. How is it going to look if a brawl erupts and the refs take Smiths rule literally and send 7 from each team to the bin. League's biggest game will be ruined. The headlines around the world will be terrible. League will be a laughing stock. Worst of all Daniel Anderson can front the media on Thursday and say "Well, it was Dave's idea". His reign as CEO will be in tatters.

Of course two grown men having a small dust up in the middle of the biggest footy game of the year is the same as drink driving and wife beating. PC madness...!

AND, they stopped The Cave men from dragging women to their caves by the hair. Bloody do-gooders.

guess it is mate, but JUST tongue in cheek stuff, to make both sides happy.

Still dribbling your garbage I see kimmy.

Well Tim, you sure have brought out the "squeaky wheels" Listen to them howl. They bring themselves undone by their obvious faked overreaction. They really should go watch the touch footy, well maybe that might even upset their delicate constitutions. Too bad.

Soccer has 3 times more junior participants because it is not a full contact sport. It is the only non contact winter football code in Australia, so it is natural that worried parents will want their kids to play soccer instead of a full contact sport. That's just the nature of contact sport - it's not for everyone. AFL has 2 times the junior participants as league because they count every kid who steps within a 5km radius of an AusKick Carnival as a "junior participant". Compare apples with apples. When you compare season long participants with season long participants, the difference between AFL's junior participation rates and rugby league's is much smaller.

hahahaha on ya jukes

10 in the bin for fighting and 1 week for the swinging arm is all it needed