PRICHARD: Banning Jennings from Origin would be over the top

My guess is that Michael Jennings will be cleared to play for NSW in State of Origin III, which would be fair enough.

Without having been there to witness the incident which got Jennings into trouble with the police, we’re not talking about a major crime here.

The media release detailing the incident that was issued by police said, in part: “About 2.30am (Saturday 20 June 2015), officers from Parramatta Local Area Command were patrolling a car park at Erby Place, when they allegedly saw a man kicking a boom gate.

“As they walked up to him another man approached the officers allegedly in an aggressive manner.

“The man, aged 27, was arrested and taken to Parramatta Police Station was issued with a field court attendance notice for hindering police and offensive behaviour, to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Monday 20 July 2015.”

If that is how it was then Jennings has acted stupidly and will presumably pay a price in court. Police patrolling suburban car parks in the middle of the night are justified in not being prepared to put up with any rubbish.

But he hasn’t been accused of bashing someone, or drink-driving, or something else major.
Jennings has already been stood down from Monday night’s game against St George Illawarra by his club, Sydney Roosters, and fined an unspecified amount.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson spoke to the media on Sunday and while he made it clear the club was disappointed with Jennings he described the incident itself as a “pretty small thing”.

Robinson’s main concern was with the fact Jennings had been out drinking three nights before a game.

“The choices he made weren’t in line with us playing on a Monday night,” Robinson said. “The team comes first here and Michael knows that. Alcohol consumption before the game, it’s unacceptable.

“He definitely wasn’t in a bad way, but he’d had a few beers and that isn’t in line with what we do, so he won’t play on Monday night. Michael knows he has let people down.”

Chances are the action the Roosters promptly took will have the effect of the club taking a bullet for the NSW team – even though that wouldn’t have been their motivation.

Had the Roosters not done anything the NRL integrity unit would have presumably stepped in ahead of Monday night’s game anyway, but the club has moved swiftly and that always goes down well with the powers that be.

If the integrity unit isn’t satisfied with the course of action taken by the club it can always ban Jennings from next weekend’s round as well, but that would seem harsh.

When Blues coach Laurie Daley was asked on Saturday for his reaction to what had happened with Jennings, he effectively bought time, saying: “I won’t make a comment until we know all the facts. It’s really important we collect the relevant information before making any decisions.”

The incident does put Daley in a difficult position, given that he chose not to pick Mitchell Pearce for NSW in game one last year after the Roosters halfback was arrested following a nightclub incident.

But it must be remembered that Pearce hadn’t been playing well leading up to Origin. His place should have been under threat and he was the last player who could afford to test the coach’s patience at that time.

Much has been made of an improved culture within the Blues’ set-up and that since Daley has previously disciplined wayward players by leaving them out of teams he can’t not do the same with Jennings.

But it’s hard to imagine that any player in the NSW side – including Pearce – would want to see Jennings miss a series-deciding Origin game over this incident.

That wouldn’t necessarily mean Daley might not feel the need to justify his selection to the rest of the team, but how he did that would be up to him.

If Jennings was left out of the team, he would surely be replaced at centre by his Roosters teammate Blake Ferguson, who would have considerably more than the one Origin appearance so far to his name had he not let himself down off the field so many times in the past.

But Ferguson should be there anyway for game three, in place of winger Will Hopoate.

Loyalty is an admirable quality, but it still shouldn’t be automatic and Hopoate simply hasn’t done enough this series. The NSW team can be improved by picking Ferguson ahead of him.

NSW has its problems, with the Jennings situation and also forward Josh Jackson facing the possibility of a charge and suspension over a lifting tackle for Canterbury against Penrith on Saturday.

But Queensland has already lost star fullback Billy Slater and halfback Cooper Cronk is still battling the clock to be fit in time for Origin III after missing game two.

We’ve already got a fascinating lead-up to what should be a tremendous game and it’s still more than two weeks away.