There will be plenty of fallout from the incredible judiciary decision that has freed Broncos superstar Justin Hodges to play in this Sundayโs Grand Final.
One thing that wonโt, but certainly should, eventuate from this is the suspension of Roosters second rower Aidan Guerra.
Roosters fans, itโs purely coincidence that this follows the Roosters choker article from earlier this week, I promise Iโm not attacking your team.
Last night Guerra, a QLD teammate and friend of Justin Hodges, testified that he jumped into the tackle to earn a penalty.
Donโt for a second think that I, or any fan of the NRL, believe Guerra is the only player to ever play for a penalty, it is unfortunately part of the game.
In this instance however, Guerra testified to say that he jumped with the aim to go past the horizontal to earn a penalty.
His exact words were: โGame wasn't going to plan I was aiming to gain a penalty by making my body go above the horizontal by jumpingโ.
To dumb it down, he admitted to cheating to earn a penalty that shouldnโt have otherwise been given because the game wasnโt going the Roosters way.
His actions directly led to Hodges being charged, and last nightโs media circus.
I am a big fan of the round-ball game, but I LOATHE the fact players go to ground, and brandish pretend cards in attempts to get opposition players booked, or even sent off.
World Cup fixtures have been decided on blatant cheating. Fans of the game refer to it as โgamesmanshipโ, but it is cheating.
I do not want to see this creep into our game as it did last Friday night.
I also would like to hear what Alex McKinnon has to say about Guerraโs actions.
Guerra put himself into a ridiculously dangerous position for the chance to earn a penalty.
McKinnon is sitting in a wheelchair, his career over, due to a similar landing that Guerra brought upon himself.
Luckily no one was hurt in the tackle, but it could have gone very, VERY wrong.
For what? A penalty!?
Guerra should be suspended to send a strong message that this will not be tolerated in our game.
Iโm a big fan of the Roosters star, but I would HATE to see someone jump in order to earn a lifting penalty, only to fall wrong and have their career ended.
Dally M count needs an overhaul
I watched both the Dally M and Brownlow medal counts on Monday night, and the events could not have been further apart in terms of prestige or pageantry.
Tony Squires bumbled through interviews, while Dave Smith stood up and said that โdomestic violence would not be toleratedโ to a room that contained at least one player who had admitted, in open court, to assaulting his girlfriend.
Not to mention the frustrating five second delay to the feed in North Queensland.
Meanwhile in Melbourne, Mick Molloyโs โcomedicโ look at the season aside, the AFL equivalent was superb.
They didnโt seem to suffer from any delay for their live feed in Perth, while Bruce Mcavaneyโs interview with Nate Fyfe will long be looked upon as a genuine highlight.
As for the medal itself, the fact that the biggest individual honour in our game is judged by News Corp journalists, doesnโt sit right.
There is NO doubting the right man won the medal. Thurston was by far the best player of the season. Everyone knew where the medal was heading three weeks ago.
That being said, it is really a good system when one newspaperโs employees judge the award?
For those unaware, the umpires award votes in the AFL system.
Now I donโt believe our referees need any more responsibility on their player as they have a hard enough time officiating the game, but the AFL system is far better than the one we โenjoy.โ
Iโd love to see the judging handed to those in the video referee bunker next season.
Different judges look for different aspects of the game, so having the same five or so judges award the points for every game would mean there is consistency.
Although, if Thurston puts on another season-long clinic as he did this season, we wonโt need a system at all.
