From the Sydney Morning Herald,
ANNESLEY STAYING PUT
NRL head of football Graham Annesley has denied growing speculation he’s about to leave the job, going so far as to clear the air with chief executive Andrew Abdo.
Annesley has been linked to jobs with the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Gold Coast City Council but assured this column he has no intention of moving on.
If that’s the case, he and the game’s powerbrokers have some serious issues to address in the offseason . The game is being strangled by rules, edicts and crackdowns, all of which have left the fan disillusioned with what they are watching.
The overbearing influence of The Bunker, the confusion around set restarts and the heavy- handedness of the Match Review Committee need to be addressed.
There can be no greater example of the madness that’s going on than the two-match suspension of Souths back-rower Keaon Koloamatangi for a crusher tackle that wasn’t a crusher.
Souths would have contested the charge at the judiciary but were intending to give the livewire forward a freshen-up before the finals anyway, so they didn’t bother.
Koloamatangi was penalised while tackling Penrith winger Brett Naden, who turned his back and fell on his backside, looking for a quick play-the-ball .
It’s becoming a cliche what followed: Naden grabbed his neck, Stephen Crichton at dummy half howled in protest to referee Grant Atkins and a penalty was given.
I asked Annesley to talk me through the charge and he emailed this explanation from the MRC: ‘‘ Player Naden runs the ball into a collision with player Koloamatangi. After the collision, player Koloamatangi takes a grip under the arm of player Naden, who attempts to get to the ground. As player Naden goes to the ground, player Koloamatangi forcefully applied unnecessary pressure to the head/ neck and spinal column of player Naden as he maintained his grip, as player Naden lands on the ground. He bends at his waist and lent his body weight on top of the player Naden’s head, which caused excessive flexion of the neck/spinal column. The MRC believe player Koloamatangi did not attempt to release his grip to make the necessary space for player Naden’s head to be cleared in the tackle. This presented an unacceptable risk of injury to the player Naden, who was placed in a vulnerable position.’’ With the greatest of respect to whomever wrote this, what a load of gibber. Koloamatangi (below left) didn’t apply forceful pressure at any stage. His chest ended up on the back of Naden’s neck because Naden twisted in the tackle then fell to the ground. We’re all for banning dangerous tackles and practices. But the NRL needs to stop conjuring reasons to prevent its players from playing. Head office has lost sight of the fact players are the reason people watch the game.
