Don't Play Chicken: Nrl
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday April 7, 2008
NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley is confident that players can be charged and suspended over the controversial new "chicken wing" tackle that has Storm prop Adam Blair facing a two- to three-match ban.
Blair is now a test case for the tribunal system after he became the first player put on report over the wrestling ploy when he appeared to wrench the arm of Brisbane hooker Michael Ennis during the premiers' 28-8 win in Melbourne on Friday night. Concerns were expressed on the weekend that he may escape sanction because of a loophole in the NRL's judicial code.But the Herald understands that discussions between NRL management and representatives of the citings panel and the judiciary yesterday confirmed that the match review committee had the power to charge Blair with contrary conduct.Officials pored over the code just weeks ago to determine whether Roosters hooker Riley Brown had a case to answer for shouldering into the back of defenceless Souths halfback Craig Wing in the opening match of the season. He was cleared.In a parallel case, the match review committee was also unable to charge Melbourne prop Jeff Lima last year when the "crusher" tackle was first detected.Since then, the rules have been changed to allow defenders to be charged for making unnecessary contact with the head or neck of an opponent, even if their actions are deemed only to be careless. The judiciary has been instructed to treat any tackle in which a player uses his body weight to bend and exert pressure on the ball carrier's neck as "very serious".While Annesley said the NRL did not plan to direct the judiciary to crack down specifically on the chicken-wing tackle, he believed the match review committee already had the authority to act over such incidents."Contrary conduct is an all-encompassing charge that can cover any incident not specified by any other offence," Annesley said. "There doesn't have to be a specific rule that says you can't grab a player's arm; if the match review committee believes something constitutes contrary conduct they can lay a charge."The NRL placed the Storm on notice last week when it emailed coach Craig Bellamy video footage of a number of chicken-wing tackles. That is expected to foreshadow the match review committee charging Blair with a grade-two or grade-three contrary conduct offence - lighting the fuse for a potentially explosive judiciary hearing if he pleads not guilty.Blair denied Melbourne players were being coached to perform the controversial manoeuvre. "I didn't deliberately do it," he told The Sun-Herald. "It was just all in one motion, it was all just going down to the ground. I was just holding his hand and it just twisted over myself, so there's nothing in it."There are indications from Melbourne that the Storm will contest any charge against Blair and claim that Ennis took a dive after he was seen winking to teammates when referee Jared Maxwell awarded the penalty - something the Bronco and his coach, Wayne Bennett, vehemently deny.NRL officials are understood to be satisfied that Ennis was not trying to milk a penalty and want to discourage the chicken-wing tackle for fear that a player's shoulder will be dislocated.Meanwhile, Manly fear the constant sniping at the Storm's tactics will have them even more fired up for Friday's grand-final rematch at Olympic Park."I think they're used to it," Manly centre Jamie Lyon said. "They've been copping it quite a bit. I don't think they're the only team that does it [uses wrestling techniques]. They probably just do it a bit more often. They're going to be fired up, but so are we."Lyon said the chicken-wing tackle was "dangerous" but added: "I don't encourage people to dive, and that's sort of what it looked like."
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald