Packer has pleaded guilty and accepted the one match ban for the hit on Lockyer. Is this an acceptable level of punishment? Just on examination of the photo one can tell it is a high elbow to the face, have a look at it on video and you will will clearly see Packer come in late and high. Not only that but he is also off his feet in the air. How would this have been handled if it was a hit on a ball runner and not a kicker? Would it have been handled the same? Did the judiciary take into account the extent of injury from the hit. I hope not. Already this year there has been too many instances of the judiciary getting it completely wrong and opening itself to attacks of bias and cries of frustration from fans.
Would the penalty have been the same if it was Thaiday hitting Marshall? Ask anyone north of the border if a Queenslander would have gotten off lightly around origin time. The resounding answer is no.
The NRL and its broadcasters keep saying that they have an image to uphold and are quite ready to make examples of players who damage the game when it comes to off-field behaviour, yet cannot do the same with instances on the field.
No comments:
Post a Comment