The NRLโs most-capped player, Storm, Queensland and Australian icon Cameron Smith, has branded the leagueโs decision to delay Taylan Mayโs two-game suspension until the new season as โcrazinessโ, claiming the Panthers winger should be serving his ban immediately.
May was handed a two-match ban that starts in 2023 after he was found guilty of assault last week. Though no conviction was officially recorded and he was only required to pay $2000 in total fines, the NRL came down further.
Though the league handed down a ban and a significantly higher fine than the courts, the decision to begin the two-game suspension next year has left many pundits and fans perplexed and outraged.
Smith questioned the repeated inconsistencies regarding player suspensions, calling upon some specific precedents to point out the leagueโs hypocrisy.
โWe all know how the season ended for the Broncos,โ Smith said on SENโs The Captainโs Run.
โThey were missing one of their most influential players for a month in Patrick Carrigan for a hip drop tackle.
โHe got four weeks, and in those four weeks Brisbane lost three games and won oneโฆ and put a nail in their coffin for the season.
โThe Roosters, theyโve lost Lindsay Collins for four weeks for a similar incident, a hip drop tackle. They wonโt see him again this year unless they make the grand final.
โDid the Roosters and Broncos fans apply those tackles? Because Iโd like to think that now theyโre being punished for those players not being there.
โLatrell Mitchell, high contact on Joey Manu (in 2021) โ six weeks. He missed the entire finals and a Grand Final that they lost by just two points.
โWas it the Rabbitohs fans fault Latrell performed the high contact on Joey Manu? No. So why are we now changing the rules?
โI bring up these three cases because weโve got the same management in the NRL, the same management in our commission, yet weโre changing the rules.
โItโs ridiculous, weโve never seen this before. I think itโs craziness. He should be serving his two weeks right now.โ
May has been named on the wing for tonightโs game against Parramatta.
