The hysteria that has been unleashed after vision showed Canberra Raiders forward Hudson Young had hands on the face of Warriors outside back Adam Pompey has been as outrageous as it has been an indictment on the people and commentators who have whipped it up.
Some in the media have all but called for the Maitland-born 21-year-old to be thrown out of the game.
Yes, I am a Raiders supporter. While I agree that it was not a great look that Young had his hand on Pompey’s face, the incident just didn’t appear anywhere near as severe as many are making it out to be.
Commentating the game, ex-Storm player Brett Finch went berserk.
Andrew Johns called for a 20-week ban – or even being put out for the entire season. Seriously? A whole season? (Though, in fairness to Johns, his harsh stance on gouging has been very consistent, regardless of the players involved).
Reni Matua chimed in to say that in his day Young would have left the field in a body bag. Thanks for your input Reni.
Now, let’s all just put down our torches and pitchforks for a second, take a few deep breaths and try to look at the situation rationally.
Hudson Young of the Raiders (right) is placed on report. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Let’s take a moment to view the sort of offences that get the sort of very lengthy bans that Immortal Andrew Johns is advocating.
Here is Danny Williams hitting Mark O’Neill in 2004.
Williams got 18 weeks for that.
Now look at John Hopoate smashing Keith Galloway with a forearm to the head. He got 17 weeks for that. The father of Bulldogs player Will also got 12 weeks for sticking his finger into the anus of opposition players.
How about Les Boyd smashing Darryl Brohman’s jaw back in 1983? Jim Comans gave Boyd 12 months for that act of blatant thuggery.
Against that backdrop, how anyone could be calling for 20-week bans or for Hudson Young to be rubbed out of the game for the Pompey incident beggars belief.
The cry of “repeat offender” is being used to justify these hysterical calls.
George Burgess was also a repeat offender. Compare his effort on Robbie Farah to Hudson Young’s hands on the face of Pompey. Burgess got eight weeks for that repeat offence.
George Burgess being replaced on report. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Not 20 weeks. Not a season. Eight weeks. He’s playing this Friday night in fact.
Should we expect a mob protesting outside the SCG trying to block George from entering the ground?
While you can see Burgess’ fingers going into Farah’s sockets for a good old feel around, that is not clearly evident at all in the Hudson Young incident.
Further, the Warriors player who is the supposed victim of Young doesn’t seem to know what the fuss is about, as he made clear in his social media exchange with Young.
“Nah you’re sweet brah,” Pompey said in response to Young. “I honestly don’t think anything is wrong with that bala. I didn’t feel anything and I didn’t know you even poked me in the eye.”
The NRL was happy to let Cameron Munster make the call on whether Josh McGuire had any charge to face or not. Why does that not apply in this instance?
Further, back in June NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley was keen to differentiate McGuire’s hands in Dylan Walker’s face from Hudson Young’s on Aidan Tolman. “There is a significant difference between a facial, for want of a better term, and poking around in the eyes of the opponent or what we traditionally call eye gouging.”
When I looked at McGuire’s efforts on Munster or Dylan Walker I see little to no difference to what Hudson Young did. Graham Annesley called McGuire’s actions a facial, not a gouge.
However, with the mob baying for blood the Michael Buettner-led match review committee – the very same one that failed to even charge Josh McGuire on multiple occasions (until after the Origin period) and declared that Nic Cotric should be heavily charged for a spear tackle while Jake Trbojevic shouldn’t be for a virtually identical effort – referred Young straight to the judiciary.
No doubt Young will be wheeled in strapped to a trolley jack, in a strait jacket and wearing a hockey mask too – a la Hannibal Lecter.
Hudson Young of the Raiders. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
The almighty news cycle needs sensation. It craves villains. It demands sacrificial lambs. And if we allow it to, it will take them.
Am I wrong to want to use a scene from the Simpsons to mock people?
While I am no fan of hands in the faces of opposition players, this action has been whipped out of all proportion. I really hope that the judiciary bring calm and common sense to this matter.
Not just for the sake of Hudson Young but for the sake of the game. We really need cool heads and consistency brought back into the running of the NRL.
Wayne Turner
Guest
I agree. One rule for one player,another rule for another.
Wayne Turner
Guest
THAT is the EXACT issue.Spot on.
Wayne Turner
Guest
The Josh McGuire comparison is the best one. The stupid NRL found him guilty twice of the same offense as Youn,and only fined him twice.Only the 3rd time he got suspended,and it wasn't for long.All this season. Young's problem is he's a lesser known player.McGuire should have got similar if not more suspension as Young,for being an even bigger repeat offender. The NRL are a joke.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Danny Williams, 20 weeks for eye gouging. There are precedents for what some pundits were calling for.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
I also replied to Gray-Hand but that got cut as well. Has this become a QLDers, Storm and Roosters ONLY forum?
mushi
Roar Guru
That's kind of society as a whole
mushi
Roar Guru
Your article wasn't exactly calm Tim. Citing outrage and that it is an indictment on all involved in the opening paragraph wasn't exactly designed to appeal to calm and rationale minds.
mushi
Roar Guru
It could be that Mcguire's was the tipping point?
Chris.P.Bacon
Guest
Damn you PS, what happened to Terry Lamb? In your usual Bulldog literary triptych you include - James Graham...(tick), Dale Finucane...(tick), AND then you ALWAYS go back to the 1988 Grand Final and include Terry Lamb!...what the 'heck' happened this time? You're not going soft on me are you big fella (with your revisionist history)? ;) #hanleyducked
Tim Gore
Expert
I never said past lenience was a basis for future lenience. That has been incorrectly extrapolated by hysterics - and I stupidly got sucked in by them. What I said was the NRL had accepted Cameron Minster’s position and not charged McGuire. I was asking why that didn’t apply in this case.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
Being a self confessed Raiders fan means that you can’t look at it rationally, while I agree the penalties that were called for were excessive, I’m not sure advocating for the likes of Hudson Young and Nick Cotric from a Raiders fan can be viewed as anything but bias.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Looking at the incident time and time against me no finger/s in the eye, but a raking action and a second shot at it. Now I don't care whether he helps elderly people across the road, is a member of the SES, the face is sacrosanct and any attempt to put a hand around or in the eye area is just a no no.And it.s not the first bout the second time the hand has wandered into unacceptable regions. Ricky after the first occasion, should have sat the guy down and laid it on the line,"keep your hands away from the tackled player's eye region" you're going to cost us a game. George Burgess got slammed when it was a lay down eye gouge. Regardless of the tackled player saying he felt no pain etc. The players was tackled ,held, yet the need to come over and and call it a facial to be kind ,is just not on. Gallen in the past got hauled over the coals, by a respected elderly rl mate of Jack Gibson. ,for his grubby tactics.And he cut out the rubbish. Its just not a good look for the game. and toned down his behaviour.
Ron Norton
Guest
Graeme Annersley, head of the referees, is the one who described these incidents as "facials" when comparing Young's original charge with McGuire's second grub act.
Tim Gore
Expert
And Trbojevics too? There are so many outliers. There are so many hysterics.
Farkurnell
Guest
I think the eyes have it
Nick
Roar Guru
And facials are ok then? The fact that we've normalised this behaviour by calling it a facial is disgusting.
Nick
Roar Guru
Where was your outrage when the chooks were on the bottom of the ladder not 6 years ago?
Nick
Roar Guru
Quite right... it's not as simple as I said, but the element is still there. Yeah, you swing and miss and you walk free, you swing and partially connect... then you're on the hook for the attempt. Ditto with Hudson young.
Rob9
Roar Guru
Tim, you keep on questioning commenters about whether they’re certain ‘there was a gouge’- this is ridiculous. What is clear is he has wrapped has finger around the upper reach of his eye socket where it disappears. In the absence of eyelid cam, who knows whether he applied pressure on the eye or whether his finger entered the eye (given the angle it came from I’d say there’s every chance it didn’t)? And who cares! The undeniable description that I’ve outlined above is enough. It’s obviously occurred in the heat of battle and while he might not have been 100% aware of what he was doing at the time, he’s made the choice to angle the end of his finger towards eye and wrap it around the top of the socket. You do not do this on a football field. He knew (again in the heat of battle) the general area of the body he was coming into grab and there was nothing ‘facial’ about it. You come into this sort face contact bending your fingers and grabbing onto what you find and you’re taking a huge risk (which should be evident in his eventual punishment). Do you want an eyeball on the field for this to be taken seriously? This is not an area of the body you mess with.
Don
Roar Rookie
It's your only argument Tim. You just keep repeating "whaddabout Josh McGuire?" I say "whaddabout Young's first suspension for a similar act and whaddabout George Burgess?" If the NRL are going to be consistent as you ask then Young cops a big suspension. McGuire's unbelievably lenient treatment is an outlier.