Wiki Suspended

[skeepe]

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Wiki out of Test
April 21, 2004

NEW Zealand will go into Friday night's Test without captain Ruben Wiki after he was suspended for five matches by the NRL judiciary tonight.

Wiki faced the judiciary on a grade one reckless high tackle charge but it was downgraded tonight to a grade five careless high tackle for his hit on Cronulla prop Jason Stevens at the weekend.

The 31-year-old's suspension is the latest piece of bad luck for the Kiwis, who are in camp on the NSW Central Coast.

New Zealand is already without halfback Stacey Jones, who decided to make himself unavailable due to poor form, and fullback David Vaealiki (rib cartilage).

Wiki, who has played 39 Tests for his country, is regarded as the Kiwis' most fearsome forward.

Melbourne's David Kidwell is expected to come into the New Zealand side as Wiki's replacement.

Australian forward Luke Bailey today said he expected the Kiwis would be a better side without Wiki.

"They'll lose some but, maybe with him being in the side they were looking for a bit of inspiration from him, but if he's out they're going to find inspiration from themselves," Bailey said.

"I think they'll be better without him as well."

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,9348564-23210,00.html


Terrible decision. 1-2 weeks max. Anyone got Ali Lauiti'iti's number? :lol:

 

[AuckMel]

Shocking decision. Clearly biased. First Betham cops a heavy suspension, and now Wiki.

 

[NPK]

Betham got what he deserved - he clearly went high on Civoniceva and paid the price - broken arm as well.

Wiki was unlucky as Stevens was falling as he hit him - if he was upright, it would have been a solid chest high tackle.
5 matches is too much.

 

[Steven Gerrard]

5 matches is what you get when you come in flying and almost decapitate there head. Total load of crap. :roll:

 

[Tommy Smith]

2-3 would have been more appropriate. It's a shame Morley won't get to bash him when we play the Raiders. ;-)

 

[Southern Rooster]

I have always been of the opinion suspension should count depending on who you're playing for. He was playing for Canberra so all games should be for Canberra. He should be eligible to play Friday night.

As for the suspension I think it very harsh a deliberate act of thuggery (knee to the head and Maddisons elbow in 2002) get 10 and 11 weeks. An accidental high shot (with mitigating circumstances Stevens was falling) from a bloke who plays hard and fair every week and is a credity to the game and he gets 1/2 of what they get.

It's not fair and it is certainly not justifiable.

 

[JTR]

Shocking decision. Clearly biased. First Betham cops a heavy suspension, and now Wiki

Ahhh.. you've gotta love a good conspiracy theory!

It is rather odd though when you look at the number of Kiwi players that have been suspended and ruled out of a Test match.

Names like Lauitiiti, N. Cayless, Kearney, Pongia, Lomax...
You can now add Wiki to that and I'd say there are some I'm not remembering too.

However, I'm sure many Aussies have fallen to the same fate.

 

[innsaneink]

5 matches is what you get when you come in flying and almost decapitate there head. Total load of crap. :roll:

Naaah 5 matches is what ya get when its ur 10th odd visit to the judiciary in the last eight or so years....the guy clearly just will not learn. :roll: :lol:
Serves him right.

 

[TRANSLATION]

Ruben is the biggest loss the Raiders Could possibly have.

THe is almost everything to the,. I can not see them beating the teams they have coming up without him. Unless they all lift becuase of his absence.

The Broncs and Roosters are going to get lucky.

Lets hope not.

 

[mickdo]

If he didnt such have a history at the judiciary then he wouldnt have copped a points loading. The base penalty would have probably only been around 3 weeks, so I think it was about the right suspension.

 

[Meth]

Naaah 5 matches is what ya get when its ur 10th odd visit to the judiciary in the last eight or so years....the guy clearly just will not learn.

A guy who has played for about a decade, the way that Wiki plays, is bound to accumulate a few visits to the judiciary,

Blokes have been playing for half the time that Wiki has, and have been the judiciary more.

 

[thickos]

5 matches is what you get when you come in flying and almost decapitate there head. Total load of crap. :roll:

Naaah 5 matches is what ya get when its ur 10th odd visit to the judiciary in the last eight or so years....the guy clearly just will not learn. :roll: :lol:
Serves him right.

Coming from a Magpies fan who used to support a team so chock full of THUGS it wasn't funny :roll: No malice in what Ruben did at all. Fair enough it was high, cop 2-3 weeks... but 5? You are kidding. Half of what Luke O'Donnell got when he turned Michael Monaghan's jaw into mush last yr, as well as half of Birdy's time on the sidelines. It's not right.

 

[skeepe]

The thing about this is, I have not yet heard one single person say that he deserved it or that it was the right decision (Well, apart from innsaneink, who's entitled to his Raider-hating opinion).

The other thing that gets me is that he committed the offence while playing for the Raiders, so why should NZ suffer because of it? He should be suspended for 5 NRL matches. I haven't heard the RLIF issue a press release saying that Wiki is suspended from the test, so why should he be?

 

[Anonymous]

5 matches is what you get when you come in flying and almost decapitate there head. Total load of crap. :roll:

Naaah 5 matches is what ya get when its ur 10th odd visit to the judiciary in the last eight or so years....the guy clearly just will not learn. :roll: :lol:
Serves him right.

Coming from a Magpies fan who used to support a team so chock full of THUGS it wasn't funny :roll: No malice in what Ruben did at all. Fair enough it was high, cop 2-3 weeks... but 5? You are kidding. Half of what Luke O'Donnell got when he turned Michael Monaghan's jaw into mush last yr, as well as half of Birdy's time on the sidelines. It's not right.

Why twist facts. It's closer to a third of what o'donnell got.

The suspension is however a joke. It should have been 2 matches.

What shits me is that the nrl is shooting themselves in the foot. Anything good for rugby league is good for the nrl. Strong international rugby league is good for rugby league. Therefore, why suspend players from test matches after the incident occurs in a club match? Ridiculous.

 

[theVodkaCircle]

Its an absolute joke. One week, maybe two.
The judiciary doesnt seem to change over the years, does it ?

 

[Tommy Smith]

An accidental high shot (with mitigating circumstances Stevens was falling) from a bloke who plays hard and fair every week and is a credity to the game and he gets 1/2 of what they get.

Of course the ironic thing is that Morley is no different. He also plays hard and fair every week but like Wiki, is prone to the odd high-shot because of the way he plays the game. But unlike Wiki, Mozz unfairly cops criticism from everyone in the media and just about everyone on here.

 

[Sir Don]

The difference between wiki and morley is that Ruben can play and morleys only there to take out oppositions play makers

 

[ibeme]

A couple of weeks is all it deserved. There was no malice involved, and Stevens was falling. My understanding is that it was graded as a 'wreckless' high tackle. 'Careless' would have been more appropriate

 

[Tupac Shakur]

I heard that Nathan Cayless is the new captain, Stephen Kearney moves to lock with David Kidwell the new bench player.

 

[Southern Rooster]

An accidental high shot (with mitigating circumstances Stevens was falling) from a bloke who plays hard and fair every week and is a credity to the game and he gets 1/2 of what they get.

Of course the ironic thing is that Morley is no different. He also plays hard and fair every week but like Wiki, is prone to the odd high-shot because of the way he plays the game. But unlike Wiki, Mozz unfairly cops criticism from everyone in the media and just about everyone on here.

Don't we know that. The game is a lot cleaner these days and unlike past days I think every professional player now knows it has a responsibility towards the game. We are a unique game in that we cater to all type of athlete. Our game needs players like Ruben, Mozz, Tallis, Ryles. The hard blokes as well as the attacking geniuses.