Ricky Stuart furious over Cotric send-off

Speaking about rule changes - referees need to be able to in crease send-offs. Ravalara lucky to stay on the field after his coathanger on Croker. Maybe change rules so a player sent off can be replaced by one of the reserves, but the bench cannot be replaced. The biggest whinge against send offs is the loss of a man, so you have to almost kill someone before it happens. So this way its a cost to the offending team in loss of team numbers but can't be blamed as a game changer to the ref. My worry with this suggestion is the mind set of many NRL coaches and how they would exploit it.

And Gould too has joined the turkeywagon... These guys also with the chooks defending JWH intentional headbutt

A bloody Burgess reference had to find its way in there somewhere... ;)

" Strickly speaking it isn’t a spear tackle because that describes a tackle where one player lifts another after sticking their lifting arm between the legs of their target and then intentionally lifting" That's the only part I'm arguing. There doesn't need to be a hand between the legs to constitute a Spear.

Soward was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, DP, even when he was playing for the mighty Dragons. I don't bother to consider his opinions too much as they often make zero sense - just like this.

Isn't that what I said Nat? I thought I described a spear tackle from start to finish, including driving the players head into the ground.

Not right PS. An arm between the leg only shows the intent to lift and is used as an indicator for a penalty. A spear tackle is actively driving the player head-first into the dirt from a lifted position. You can accidentally get a player into a lifted position and momentum can see them going head first. That wasn't Cotric though, he had full control and went on with it very hard. Even Maguire might have seen the sideline for that one.

"If you call that a spear tackle you've only just started watching this game ... and you shouldn't be involved in it if you think that's a spear tackle" says Stuart, making the case for the League to give Our Ricky a few weeks away from the game for reflection on the obligations he has, including to direct his players in a responsible and professional manner. This is a seasoned top end coach speaking about a young bloke who has been at the top of his class for his short career under contract to the Raiders, and subject to specialist professional coaching addressing everything from tackling technique and tackling rules to behaving as a grown up in public. Cotric was awarded Centre of the Year in 2016, Rookie of the Year in 2017 and rewarded with selection in a Prime Minister's Selection against PNG in 2018. He's not your average feeder club player grafting away hoping for a start. With all that focused attention one would hope the Raiders’ head coach has someone explaining spear tackling to their young charges such as Cotric, however it is defined in the Laws of the Game. This is the sort of thing a barrister will target when one of these clever, dangerous practices comes unstuck and ends up in legal action. A prudent coach would do well to come to court armed with something more persuasive than mystical powers to judge intent from 50 yards distant, a bad temper and an assertion that the match officials all got it wrong because they don’t understand the game. I had stopped by the television momentarily just as the tackle was made and thought to myself “Where has this palooka been?” Cotric dropped Lafai on his neck, turned on the referee and gave him a gob full, stood up all full of astonishment and gave him some more after Klein pointed to the sideline. “Where HAS this palooka been!?” says I. The referees (and the game) would be well served by a charge of dissension and overt disrespect for the referee. I don’t know that Ricky will be of much assistance to Cotric though – his notion of effective exchange of views is rather one dimensional as I recall when he was national coach, limited to screaming at referees who don’t know as much as he does the day after, as they pass through the airport lounge.

Joe, DPS, it's semantics boys. Strickly speaking it isn't a spear tackle because that describes a tackle where one player lifts another after sticking their lifting arm between the legs of their target and then intentionally lifting and then flipping them and driving them diagonally headfirst into the ground. In this case the motion was lifting with Cotric's arms both wrapped around Lafai's thighs, lifting him and then flipping him and driving him into the ground. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... it's a duck! Had Lafai broken his neck like Alex McKinnon no one would be debating whether or not it was a "spear tackle". Likewise, if it was Sam Burgess in Cotric's place the mob would be calling for a 12 week plus suspension. IMO what was particularly damming about this incident was the fact that even after Lafai was flipped and in a dangerous position Cotric went through with the tackle with vigour and without any hesitation or attempt to pull out of the tackle. Then, once the tackle was concluded, instead of showing any sign of concern, remorse or shock he continued in an agro fashion pushing and shoving as Lafai's teammates came to his rescue. This was ugly and it's time we stop waiting for the offender to have "Burgess" as their last name before pretending to be outraged over something that cannot be tolerated in our game.

Ba ha ha ahaaaa. Soward also thinks it wasn't a spear.. Lord help us..

Geez, if that's not a spear tackle....maybe I'm getting my definitions wrong because this one fits the description for me...or does someone have to bring a spear and impale someone?

If they aren't sending off for that tackle, it will become exhibit A in the court case where a paralysed player claims the NRL hasn't done enough to stamp out that sort of tackle and failed in their duty of care.

Going a bit far on this one Richard.

The best way to finish a week of footy is with a Ricky rant, priceless, win or lose Ricky’s raging is like having Gordon Ramsey serve you creme broulee after a Medium Rib Eye Tomahawk super sized steak Simply Divine

When will NRL coaches, fans and players etc learn that just because it wasn't "intentional" doesn't mean it wasn't illegal?

It was harsh RIcky. Harsh but fair