Roosters fume after Rabbit punch
Will Swanton | September 2, 2007
ROOSTERS coach Brad Fittler accused David Fa'alogo of cowardice, and Braith Anasta - shaking with anger and nursing a busted lip held together by four stitches - rated it the lowest act he had seen after being king-hit in a brain explosion likely to rule the Souths forward out of the finals.
The Book of Feuds is becoming longer than War and Peace. Two arch enemies exploded in the final 11 minutes of a game dominated by the Roosters in front of 32,125 rabid fans. Most of them were supporting Souths and they gave Fa'alogo a standing ovation after being sin-binned by overwhelmed referee Ben Cummins, who Anasta later accused of caving in to the pressure being generated by the howling Rabbitohs followers.
Fa'alogo had been tackled by Anasta and took exception to what appeared to be a grapple tackle. He got to his feet and threw a savage punch, his right fist connecting with Anasta's mouth. Anasta stumbled backwards and sideways and blood started spurting from his mouth. Cummins gave Fa'alogo his marching orders, but somehow penalised the Roosters. Fa'alogo will face a striking charge this week.
"It was a coward act," Fittler said. "He [Fa'alogo] just got up and had a free swing. I just thought it was poor."
Anasta could barely speak through his mangled bottom lip - but his disgust was loud and clear.
"He's a weak human," Anasta said.
"It's the lowest, weakest thing I've ever seen. If he can't take a tackle, it's just disgraceful. He's not playing netball. He king-hit me. He'll get a few weeks, he won't be playing in the semis, he just cost his team a player.
"I didn't think anything happened, all I felt was a punch to the head. He got a clean shot."
Asked if Fa'alogo had made any attempt to apologise, Anasta replied: "I couldn't understand him
he was dribbling something out there. I don't know what he was saying."
Inside the last two minutes, Anasta was binned by Cummins. Souths halfback Jeremy Smith objected to a marginally high tackle from Anasta and started throwing punches which were more like slaps. Anasta was held back from retaliating - but was sin-binned for supposedly retaliating.
"The referee lost the plot," Anasta said. "He just listened to the crowd. He should check his undies. Seriously, I've never seen anybody give into the crowd like he did. How do I get 10 in the bin for getting punched in the head and throwing one back?"
Fittler called for consistency from referees.
"I've seen 5000 of those tackles this year," he said of Anasta's tackle that sparked Fa'alogo's retaliation. "I don't know what they do these days - you can't lift a bloke above the horizontal but you're allowed to punch someone square in the mouth - that's weird. The rules are getting a bit weird.
"They seem to protect some things and not others. For getting belted a second time - I was confused what happened there when Braith was binned, it was just ridiculous."
The loss means Souths will finish seventh or eighth, and have to play either Melbourne or Manly away next weekend. They cannot claim to be going into their first finals series since 1989 with any degree of momentum.
A disappointed Souths coach Jason Taylor bit his tongue when asked about Fa'alogo's punch.
"We'll just leave that one," Taylor said. "I said to the boys after the game I don't want to be a coach who has players who don't let the referee handle things."
