I’m so over the abuse of referees that it doesn’t bother me how hard the NRL wants to hit James Graham, David Klemmer and the Canterbury club over what happened on Good Friday. The harder the better.
Everyone has had the entire weekend to consider the events at ANZ Stadium and form a view of what should happen from here. My view is the same now as it was on Friday.
What happened was appalling and there have got to be heavy penalties.
The sight of two big forwards standing over referee Gerard Sutton and berating him, with Graham pointing at him in an intimidating manner and Klemmer swearing at him, is one of the worst looks imaginable for the game.
Klemmer was sin-binned.
It was so late in the game he wasn’t going to get back on the field anyway, so the effect was the same as a send-off, but in reality he should have been sent off.
Graham should have at least been sin-binned as well, although Sutton was probably being smart in not inflaming the already volatile situation further by doing that.
Graham should face a contrary conduct charge for his abuse of the referee and a dangerous contact charge for his botched attempt at a charge-down that injured Rabbitohs halfback Adam Reynolds.
Klemmer should face a contrary conduct charge for his abuse of the referee.
It doesn’t matter whether Graham’s contact with Reynolds was accidental or not – Graham was responsible for it because he didn’t take enough care.
If you correctly attempt a charge-down on a kick, whether it be a shot at field goal or a punt down-field, one of two things should happen – you either block the ball, or, if you miss the ball, you avoid anything more than minor contact with the player as well.
You don’t end up cannoning into his legs in a dangerous manner.
As far as the bottle-throwing by irresponsible ‘fans’ at the end of the match goes, can anyone argue with them being banned for life from attending NRL games if they can be identified?
One of the match officials was injured in the act of trying to avoid being hit, which makes the act even more serious.
The scenes we saw at the end of the game, when security officers were forced to try to shield match officials from being hit by missiles, were disgusting. Incidents like that do massive damage to the image of the game.
Fining the club and stripping the team of competition points are options the NRL can use as penalties in such circumstances.
The league will consider all of its options and so it should. If it was to fine the Bulldogs and/or strip them of points, or threaten the stripping of points if there is a repeat of poor crowd behaviour this season, I wouldn’t argue with the decision.
There has been a lot of debate about whether there was a connection between the actions of Graham and Klemmer and the actions of the minority who threw bottles.
I can’t see how there isn’t some connection.
Fans react to what they regard as unfair treatment of their team and if they see their players going over the top, then the more extreme among them are likely to become more frenzied as a result.
People have also questioned whether Graham was the right choice as Canterbury captain, after Michael Ennis left the club at the end of last season. Based on Friday’s evidence, the answer is no.
It must be hard enough as it is to get young people to join the refereeing ranks without them seeing refs at the top level having to put up with this sort of rubbish.
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
You have no idea, no idea, how emotionally hurtful it was when they kidnapped Ray Branighan, Paul Sait, Lurch and Bob Moses last century. ;)
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
Birdy
Guest
Zero I'm not calling you a RL hater , I actually agree with you , it should be a given that you can take your family to any sporting event and not have to suffer unruly behaviour. pjm, hopefully yours is a minority view shared between you , your close friends and your family.
Christian D'Aloia
Roar Guru
That is insanity at it's finest. And wasn't the last time the Dogs disgraced themselves over 10 years ago?
clipper
Guest
Have to agree eagleJack - it's not like it's tennis or golf, it's league - the fans seem to love this sort of rukus and channel 9 loves the advertising aimed at CUBs.
Lee
Roar Rookie
Ok, focus now...picture me, I am doing my best Simpsons Comic Book Guy pose, here it comes, wait for it - . . . Dumbest post, ever!
Lee
Roar Rookie
Hang on, let me get out my Rodney Rude vernacular guide so as I can get it just right. And... I dunno, why do they keep half the Jersey Flegg locked in the garage?
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
Lee I will be mightily disappointed if you were not standing as you delivered that opinion in the now time honored manner of a Canterbury captain. Why are half the Jersey Flegg players locked in the “grage”?
Woodo
Guest
Settle petal I've got absolutely no love for Canterbury but that's some extravagant punishments there.
Lee
Guest
Sorry. My fault entirely. Who do Souths play next week? I'll send them a memo saying not to hurt the precious little Rabbits. There, that should at least cover my duty of care as a Rugby League fan.
Lee
Guest
I don't know the solution. It's a storm in a tea cup. But it seems every man and his dog has a solution of some sort ranging from a public apology to a public execution. I doubt that my opinion on the matter will be anything new. Maybe we could accuse them of eco-terrorism...do you know how long it takes a plastic bottle to decompose?
DaniE
Roar Guru
Spot on
Bra. H
Guest
All this crap about whether a penalty was deserved or not is a smoke screen from the excuse makers out there . It is totally irrelevant in respect of what followed and that was the absolute disgusting behaviour of James Graham (team Captain) and David Klemmer (team Moron) and the so called Canterbury fans. The actions of those two players led directly to what happened in the crowd. Klemmer should get no less than 10 weeks on the sidelines and Graham ...well if he is banned for the rest of the season I would have no problem . Here you have a person who is the team captain - however unsuited for the role he is - intimidating and abusing match officials . One of the responsibilities of the team captain is to control his players and exert a sense of calm and prevent any of your players from intimidating OR shouting obscenities at the match officials ....a bit difficult to do if like Graham you are one of those doing the intimidating and obscenity shouting. Canterbury should also be docked all points accrued so far and be told by the NRL that any repetition of Fridays display will see them booted out of the competition. To all those who keep dragging up misdemeanors of teams/players of years past , Fridays events have stuff all to do with that so stop making pitiful excuses and comparisons .
Richie
Guest
He's got a point though Eagle Jack ,take manly out it the equation and look at it as being coaches using this tactic ,I think it's true ,they are looking for an edge wherever they can get it. If the coaches bag the refs they may get some advantage in their coming games . Coaches play their pathetic little mind games with the media all the time
eagleJack
Roar Guru
Damn Manly, causing all the problems in the NRL!
eagleJack
Roar Guru
As a competing network how much time, effort and resources would you have committed to the last NRL rights negotiations, knowing that ch9 could simply trump you at the last minute? This time around we will see 7 and 10 actually put in an effort and a bidding war will ensue. Previously they knew they had no chance of winning, 9 was never going to give them up. So why waste resources. The winner of course will be the fans.
aussie abroad
Guest
I don't get to see much of the footy here in the US, but I did see Souths game 2 weeks ago and I remember Reynolds getting a penalty against him for abusing the ref. Why wasn't there calls for him being suspended? Seems harsh to me to suspend these guys when the league has been letting it go on. If they want to say from now on there will be send offs and suspensions, I have no problem with that.
Richie
Guest
thanks Chris I think that's right and it definately needs to stop . Old habits die hard but maybe Hasler will have learnt his lesson. Thing is now all coaches use these tactics to get one over the refs and get preferred treatment so NRL needs to support the refs and tell the coaches to stop dumping on refs
nerval
Guest
Bonza, did you actually read the whole first, second and third paras of my post to which you have replied? How much clearer can I make it how loathsome I find the behaviour towards refs that we saw from Graham and Klemmer? His charge down was nothing more than any footy player for a hundred years would have been encouraged to do. Just because it was unsuccessful does NOT mean it was "poorly controlled anger" or "insulting" or a "tantrum" or (pace steveng above) a "thug" or a "grub" or a "scumbag" (from another poster above) - anymore than an attempted and failed pass, catch, tackle, kick would mean any player is any of those things. But hey, he is a Pom, so let's despatch him forthwith to the north of England, St Helens, Liverpool...
Chris Wright
Guest
The problem with the Bulldogs stems from long ago and does not even originate at the club. Back in the eighties under Ken Arthurson and Bob Fulton, Manly learned that if you constantly pressure referees with strong criticism, calls on the field start to go your way. It is not a something the officials do intentionally it is one of those sub conscious things. Hasler who was brought up on this thinking had applied the same mentality throughout his coaching reign. This has set the scene for what happened yesterday. Whether the calls were wrong or right the lack of respect from the players towards the referee was shocking. The terrible aftermath was inevitable. I just hope the NRL can work out some way of removing this ugly approach of applying pressure on the officials as this is the only way to stop inciting incidents like yesterday. In every game things happen, calls are made and supporters including myself are left disappointed feeling our team has been robbed. But in reality the officials are doing there best and they are not as bad as what we think.