If Billy Slater is suspended, perhaps he can still have a farewell in a championship decider – but back in front of his adoring home fans.
There is a precedent or two for players going around one more time in the World Club Challenge before giving the game away. After Penrith won the 2003 NRL competition, second rower Colin Ward trained all summer and travelled to Britain for the world title bout with Bradford.
He played off the bench in the Panthers’ 22-4 loss – and then went on holiday while his teammates travelled home to defend their title.
Of course, Slater is a brilliant fullback and not a hard working forward; he may not want to do the necessary work for another four months to be in the sort of form come February that we want to remember him by.
But it’s a thought.
The World Club Challenge is not deemed compulsory for clubs by the NRL. Only Leeds’ willingness to travel saved it from not being played at all this year.
Of the teams still in the running for this year’s Super League title, Wigan and Warrington have shown their willingness to travel Down Under in the pre-season, while St Helens and Castleford’s positions are unknown.
The Sydney Roosters trekked to the northern hemisphere in 2016 and might be tempted to do so again. Melbourne reckoned it was the World Cup that discouraged them this year but, if push comes to shove, would they be willing to travel in 2019? Certainly not if Bill Slater agrees to play – it will be at AAMI Park and it will be a sellout.
I didn’t want to just write another “should he or shouldn’t he” Billy Slater judiciary story.
It is actually possible to hope he plays in Sunday’s grand final but also want the judiciary to do its job without fear or favour, you know. Despite the torrent of opinion pieces you’ve been reading, the two positions are not mutually exclusive.
It’s a pantomime narrative of complete perfection, this judiciary hearing – the sort of classic pathos rugby league in Australia throws up over and over again.
Why is it so compelling? Because there are maybe 1000 people – players, administrators, match officials and, yes, media representatives – completely obsessed with what they are doing in their work around the NRL.
Mass human endeavour creates amazing kinetic energy. When everyone is pushing hard, even in different directions, pretence tends to fall away and true character is revealed.
Billy Slater. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
That’s what makes the NRL soap opera so genuine, that’s why it throws up such stunning storylines week after week. It helps, too, that those involved have their livelihoods relying on it with many not having much else to fall back on. Desperation is almost always enthralling.
Billy tried to stop the try. The referee tried to deal with the incident. The media tried to give it context. The judiciary will try to serve justice. It’s tempting to say similar stories happen all the time in park football and don’t get reported, but that overlooks an important truism: people behave differently when they know others are watching.
If you are made to think what you are doing is important, you’ll try harder. The pressure cooker of the NRL produces Michelin Star standard meals; “gold standard” as the new Super League CEO Robert Elstone described it on Thursday night.
Me? I hope if Slater is guilty, he is suspended. I hope if he is not guilty, he’s not suspended. True to the outrage tropes of the NRL, that puts me in a definitive minority.
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