Cleary vents over NRL’s ‘disturbing’ new powers
Melissa Woods |
Ivan Cleary says the decision to give the Australian Rugby League Commission power to charge NRL players shows a “disturbing” lack of confidence in the Match Review Committee.
The Rugby League Players Association revealed last week it had “serious concerns” about an amendment to the Judiciary Code allowing the ARLC to charge players regardless of the judgement of the MRC.
RLPA boss Clint Newton said such use of discretionary powers “undermines the players’ trust in the existing system”, and he has an ally in Penrith’s four-time premiership-winning coach Cleary.
“I would suggest the danger there is that the Commission is not showing a lot of confidence in the MRC,” Cleary said on Tuesday.
“I don’t know if that’s the actual reason, but you can assume that, which is a little disturbing.
“I think that’s probably the main issue – do we have confidence in the MRC? And if we don’t, then we probably should fix that up, rather than trying to maybe come up with a, ‘We’ll step in if we don’t think it’s right’.”
Speaking ahead of Penrith’s blockbuster with ladder-leaders Canterbury on Thursday night, Cleary also took issue with the hip-drop charge from Saturday’s win over the Warriors that led to veteran Panthers second-rower Scott Sorensen being suspended for two matches.
He said the current hip-drop rule was “very vague”.
“I’m sure you’ve heard enough coaches post-game confused,” Cleary said.
“The actual hip-drop rule, I don’t even know who wrote it and when it was written; it’s very vague and it’s nothing like why it was brought in.”
Sorensen’s tackle on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak happened in the 36th minute, with the Warriors winger suffering an ankle injury and assisted from the field.
But there was no immediate reaction from Watene-Zelezniak or any penalty awarded, with Sorensen later put on report.
“I think he was very hard done by,” Cleary said of Sorensen.
“Scott made a tackle that is, in most people’s eyes, a classic rugby league tackle and no one saw it (a hip-drop) – Dallin, not any player on the field, not a referee, not a touch judge, not 18,000 fans.
“But someone got hurt, so we had to do a cold case and go back and try and find it.
“It’s definitely something that needs to be looked at because it’s not just us and not just Scott, there’s been a few others this year.
“Just because someone gets an ankle injury doesn’t mean someone’s got to be suspended. There are accidents.”
Cleary was asked whether the club didn’t challenge the charge because it was so hard to win, and he replied: “That’d be one way to put it, yeah.”
Meanwhile, Penrith are set to have their five State of Origin players available, including skipper Nathan Cleary, after they sat out the trip to New Zealand.
NSW playmaker Cleary carried a groin injury into Origin II but his father said he expected him to face the Bulldogs.
“Since Origin, he’s just been progressing through his rehab, and that’s been going well. We’ll know more today, but he’s progressed through that really nicely,” Ivan Cleary said.
AAP
