Alex McKinnon possibly Quadriplegic - Mclean guilty of dangerous throw - 7 weeks

[footy75]

Not surprised at what a weak dog smith is. Already knew that but hopefully the few mongs who believe hes a saint realise he is absolute scum.

It's quite clear u don't know him or have ever played with him or even met him. Therefore your opinion means shit.

Maybe he got it wrong in the heat of the moment arguing about the penalty, at the time he was unaware of the gravity of Alex's injury.
And I'm sure he would take back questioning the penalty if he could. That's all he did. Again if he knew him u would also understand his concern for Alex's well being.

Ask anyone who has spent time with him in real life if they think he is 'absolute scum.'

 

[dollyhands]

As Bennett said, Smith got it wrong that night, but I think the ambush journalism by 60mins showing that footage to Alex that he had never seen was in pretty poor taste, they exploited Alex & got the reaction they wanted from him, which was one I can also understand. I don't think the Smith angle did justice to the rest of the story which was pretty moving.

Ahhh no, not the first time Alex has seen it. Unless he has written a book, that includes the bashing of Cam's sooking on the field, since the 60 minutes footage was taken a few weeks ago. Alex is lying and putting on a show for the cameras and acting like its the first time he has seen it.

http://m.couriermail.com.au/sport/n...book-revelations/story-fniablkr-1227429545773

 

[DOGS AND EELS!!!]

What was your take mate on Beau Scott picking up an unconcious Steve Price by the jersey in Origin a few years ago and then dropping him back to the ground?

That wasn't even beau scott, that was Justin Poore who later rung price and appologized.

http://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/2669049/Poore-says-sorry-to-Price

 

[Last Week]

So some of the arguments I've heard so far.

"Alex shouldn't have tucked his head in." - Thats a pretty unfair thing to say. He's going face first into the ground with the weight of three men on him. He has no arms free to break his fall. It's fair to say that instinct would make you tuck your head in.

"Cameron Smith shouldn't apologise as he had nothing to with the tackle." - No he didn't. But he did blame Alex for his injury whilst he was on the field. He is the Australian captain as captain of the opposition team on the night. Of course his opinion and actions are going to be carefully recognised.

"Cameron Smith isn't a doctor. He couldn't have possibly known the extent of his injuries." - True, but most other people on the field knew it was serious. Alex was screaming for help saying he couldn't move his legs. There were 8 or 9 people helping stretchering him off. I believe someone posted an article earlier that had Will Chambers say that he could see it was bad.

"Cameron Smith was doing his job as captain." - Yes he was. He was arguing with the referee for his own teams advantage. That's what captains do. However, and this is the crux of it all that alot seem to be ignoring, it isn't the human thing to do. The right thing to do that most will agree on is that Cameron shuts his mouth and just cops it.

"Cameron Smith hasn't tried to contact Alex since the incident." - I don't think people really think Smith should apologise for the tackle. He didn't do it. He should however contact Alex and say something along the lines of "mate, just wanted you to know that on the night when I was talking to the ref, I didn't mean to sound insensitive. I was just doing my job as a captain. Sorry." Fair enough, Cameron, and other captains, argue with refs all the time, probably a few times when players are injured. But it has been 15 months and it was a pretty significant moment for the game. It would have been mentioned to Smith a few times since. He has had ample time to contact Alex and explain things to him.

"Channel 9 are milking it." - Of course they are. It's channel 9. Is it anyone surprised? They're doing it now near Origin as the interest in Rugby league across the country is at it's peak. This argument is just trying to deflect the rage against Smith.

"Bringing Cameron Smith into this ruins the whole story." - Yeah perhaps, but again, this is channel 9. Are we surprised? They're creating controversey. Controversey creates ratinds. Again, this argument is just deflecting it off Smith.

"Alex is doing this to promote his book." - Maybe. If he is, he's obviously trying to increase sales for his book so that he has more money for his treatment. I thought it was pretty clear that he doesn't really want to sue the NRL. He loves the game. But he's got to think of his future for the rest of his life. He really does need millions of dollars just to have a comfortable life.

Calling for Smith to be stripped of the captaincy is well over the top and unwarranted. I think Wayne and Alex got it right in their comments. It shows Camerons character as a person and he got it wrong.

What happens now? Nothing. When the dust settles, Cam should call Alex and say what he needs to. And when it does, it should never make it to the media. It will mean more for both men if it stays private between the two.

Missed anything?

 

[natheel]

All McKinnon says is "why is he still arguing the penalty?" "That's ridiculous" "just shut up"

I was saying the same things.

Alex was visibly distressed and yelling "I can't breathe" sorry but Smith shouldn't have opened his mouth. Like Bennett said on 60 minutes he got it wrong on the night

 

[afinalsin666]

Just watched the undoctored footage on Livestream. From 59:35 to 1:00:37 Smith talks to the ref, Scott gets in his face, Mason gets in his face, then he backs off when the ref tells him to go. Then from 1:06:40 to 1:07:11 he talks to the ref after McKinnon leaves the field. Not a huge amount of time, and certainly not carrying on.

 

[Canard]

Easier to stick up for the shitmerkins for some, it seems, Than objectively evaluate their behaviour.

Yes, what an extremely objective assessment has been undertaken by all on here.

Alex seems like a fine bloke, and I fully support him.

The sensationalist angle that 60 mins took is "He shouldn't have spoken to the ref"

That's it.

As humans we are always looking to.blame someone for tragedy, and Ch9 have piled onto League as usual, and the usual agendas have come out in force

 

[beave]

That wasn't even beau scott, that was Justin Poore who later rung price and appologized.

http://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/2669049/Poore-says-sorry-to-Price

No shit, I got corrected by 5-6 people and I apologised.

 

[carcharias]

Why is this suddenly news?
It was well known that smith said what he said at the time
He should've called McKinnon regardless .
Even if only as a rep for the storm and certainly as the Aussie capt

 

[Pierced Soul]

nein does it again! the sooner we give the rights to someone who wants too look after league the better

love the timing of it. AFL couldnt have done it better

 

[betcats]

Mckinnon exposing smith for the classless grub he is. Theres an extract from his book in the paper which addresses smith again, he doesnt hold much back.

 

[The Charlatan]

So some of the arguments I've heard so far.

"Alex shouldn't have tucked his head in." - Thats a pretty unfair thing to say. He's going face first into the ground with the weight of three men on him. He has no arms free to break his fall. It's fair to say that instinct would make you tuck your head in.

"Cameron Smith shouldn't apologise as he had nothing to with the tackle." - No he didn't. But he did blame Alex for his injury whilst he was on the field. He is the Australian captain as captain of the opposition team on the night. Of course his opinion and actions are going to be carefully recognised.

"Cameron Smith isn't a doctor. He couldn't have possibly known the extent of his injuries." - True, but most other people on the field knew it was serious. Alex was screaming for help saying he couldn't move his legs. There were 8 or 9 people helping stretchering him off. I believe someone posted an article earlier that had Will Chambers say that he could see it was bad.

"Cameron Smith was doing his job as captain." - Yes he was. He was arguing with the referee for his own teams advantage. That's what captains do. However, and this is the crux of it all that alot seem to be ignoring, it isn't the human thing to do. The right thing to do that most will agree on is that Cameron shuts his mouth and just cops it.

"Cameron Smith hasn't tried to contact Alex since the incident." - I don't think people really think Smith should apologise for the tackle. He didn't do it. He should however contact Alex and say something along the lines of "mate, just wanted you to know that on the night when I was talking to the ref, I didn't mean to sound insensitive. I was just doing my job as a captain. Sorry." Fair enough, Cameron, and other captains, argue with refs all the time, probably a few times when players are injured. But it has been 15 months and it was a pretty significant moment for the game. It would have been mentioned to Smith a few times since. He has had ample time to contact Alex and explain things to him.

"Channel 9 are milking it." - Of course they are. It's channel 9. Is it anyone surprised? They're doing it now near Origin as the interest in Rugby league across the country is at it's peak. This argument is just trying to deflect the rage against Smith.

"Bringing Cameron Smith into this ruins the whole story." - Yeah perhaps, but again, this is channel 9. Are we surprised? They're creating controversey. Controversey creates ratinds. Again, this argument is just deflecting it off Smith.

"Alex is doing this to promote his book." - Maybe. If he is, he's obviously trying to increase sales for his book so that he has more money for his treatment. I thought it was pretty clear that he doesn't really want to sue the NRL. He loves the game. But he's got to think of his future for the rest of his life. He really does need millions of dollars just to have a comfortable life.

Calling for Smith to be stripped of the captaincy is well over the top and unwarranted. I think Wayne and Alex got it right in their comments. It shows Camerons character as a person and he got it wrong.

What happens now? Nothing. When the dust settles, Cam should call Alex and say what he needs to. And when it does, it should never make it to the media. It will mean more for both men if it stays private between the two.

Missed anything?

Well summed up.

 

[nomis88]

Cameron Smith - once a grub always a grub.

 

[betcats]

Alex book extract in the tele today, I have highlighted some choice bits:



BLAME GAME
THERE HAVE been long periods since the accident where it has been all about me. It’s my injury and it’s my nightmare.
It’s been my torment and it’s been my emotions.
But what I wasn’t fully aware of was how much of an impact that the injury had on my loved ones.
I didn’t know that Teigan lay awake, without so much as a minute of sleep, crying the entire night of the accident.
It would be six months after the accident before I would learn of the phone call Teigan received the moment I had hung up from my mum from inside the dressing rooms at AAMI Park.
“Kate was hysterical. I have never heard anyone scream so loud and so violently like that in my life,” Teigan would tell me.
I didn’t know that Mum, Dad and Teigan flew down to Melbourne from Newcastle at 6am the next morning.
I didn’t know they had to go through a back entry at the hospital because of the media pack outside the Alfred Hospital.
And as I lay there heavily-sedated in hospital after the accident, I certainly wasn’t aware of the opinion being voiced by some current players, commentators and experts that the tackle was partly my fault because I had ducked my head into my chest, prior to the crushing impact with the turf.
·I understand people are free to have their say, I get that absolutely. It’s one of the reasons why I am able to tell my story.

But I would ask every single one of them one simple question, including Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith, who (given his comments on the field at the time) was obviously of the view that me losing all feeling in my arms and legs is my fault because I had ducked my head.
“We’ve had two lifting tackles against us where our boys have been put in a more dangerous position than that,’’ Smith told referee Gerard Sutton, just moments after I was carried down the tunnel.
“We can’t help when he ducks his head into the ground.
“It’s unfortunate and I don’t want to see that happen any time in our game, but if he doesn’t duck his head — that doesn’t happen.’’
If you were in an identical situation, what would you do?
If you were about to get dropped on your head, what exactly would be your response?

The outpouring of blame by people who I once had great respect for was nothing short of disgusting. It made my family sick to the stomach.
I would not wish the situation I find myself in today on my worst enemy — but I would be interested to see what those people would do if they were, indeed, dropped on their head.
When you have two people holding your arms and someone weighing 115kg lifting your legs up off the ground, I’m sorry, but what are you going to do?
In its simplest form, it’s similar to having a bucket of water tossed at your face.
Do you twist, turn or duck to escape copping a bucket full of water? Or do you happily cop the cold water straight in your eyes?
If someone is about to punch you in the face, do you try and duck and move, or do you keep still and wear the hit?
It’s a reflex thing.
In hindsight, I would give anything to have broken every bone in my face instead of having my neck bear the brunt of the impact.
But that didn’t happen and I can’t change it.
People close to me, people involved in the NRL every day, have not spoken to the people involved with the Melbourne Storm once since the accident.
And they have no intention of doing so in the future.
I don’t want or crave anyone’s sympathy, as sympathy will not change my predicament.
I have played the game since I was five. I have witnessed incidents on the field that happen in a split second that can’t be taken back or changed.
Things just happen.
But take a look at the replay of my tackle on YouTube and you don’t need to look at it twice to know that this wasn’t just another lifting tackle.
Take a good look at the faces of every player on the field at AAMI Park that night.
Watch my old mate from Scone, Newcastle hooker Adam Clydesdale, who preparing to collect the football after I had played-the-ball, looks down at the perilous state I’m in and in shock ... begins taking as many steps backwards as he can.
Too distraught, watch Adam stand as far away as me as possible when the medical staff arrive.
The match was brought to one of the longest standstills in recent memory.
Almost 10-minutes had passed from the moment I was tackled to the time I was stretchered from the field.
Again, almost 10 minutes. When was the last time you saw any professional sport brought to a halt for that long?
This wasn’t just another injury. Everyone at the ground and at home watching knew it was serious.
Except Cameron Smith.
But if my dream had come true to captain Australia, I know I would’ve had the decency to at least get in touch with someone in my situation via a phone call or text message after the accident, especially if I had witnessed the distressing scenario with my own eyes.
That’s the type person I am.
I have not heard from the person claiming “It’s all my fault” once since the accident.
The Australian captain heard my screams and surely he would’ve noticed the white terror on my face.
To his credit, at least Jordan McLean made that effort to reach out.
I was not in an emotional or mental state to converse with him at the time.
He sent me a text message about four months after the accident. I could not bring myself to read it, but it was a long message that filled the entire screen of my mobile phone.
I understand that it was just a football game and he would never have meant for this to happen to me.
But it did and, by the letter of the NRL rule book, it was an illegal tackle.
It’s like driving a car.
If you do something illegal whilst driving that car and you render somebody for the rest of their life in a wheelchair, you pay the consequences.
Now I understand that the six months afterwards would’ve been a difficult time for Jordan.
But I can bet a million dollars it’s been a lot harder for my parents or Teigan, who without so much as a raised eyebrow, spend every morning getting me ready and draining my catheter bag every few hours.
Jordan McLean was suspended by the NRL match review committee for seven weeks.
I was still in hospital in Melbourne when the NRL match review committee laid their charge against Jordan McLean, so I didn’t spend too much time, if any at all, concerning myself with how many weeks he would serve out of the game.
But I do remember being told one thing, which I found ill-timed and off-putting.
I was told that the Melbourne Storm “would not be appealing the seven-match ban of Jordan McLean in respect to Alex McKinnon.”
Wow.
So, does that mean that they had grounds to appeal the suspension, but chose not to because of the delicate situation that I was in?
Did they think they may have had successfully had the suspension quashed or downgraded?
I don’t think the Melbourne Storm needed to make a statement like that.
Hopefully they never have to consider a statement like that ever again.
I’ve obviously had a lot of time to think about my tackle and lifting tackles in general since my accident.
The actual tackle technique implemented in my tackle wasn’t rare. You see them all the time.
So I ask, can the game do a better job of policing lifting tackles? I note that the NRL went public only a few weeks after my accident with a declaration of ‘cracking down’ on lifting tackles.
I have my own thoughts.
I have been involved in hundreds of tackles where I have failed to hear the referee call “held” — the call that declares the tackle complete.
We have two referees on the field in today’s game and I feel that there’s an opportunity for the “ruck referee” to become a more effective enforcer when it comes to policing all tackles, and stop them going horribly wrong.
I would suggest to the NRL that they consider something that the AFL umpires use regularly to police foul play, which is nothing more than the blow of a whistle.
·A short sharp whistle, from the referee standing only a metre away from the tackle, would take away the excuse that a player “failed to hear” the referee call “held”. And the pocket referee would have a bird’s eye view of everything: he would be able to immediately penalise lifting, or any illegal impingement of the arms or legs.
If those three defenders had heard the shrill of a whistle the moment that my back leg was lifted, or the moment that hand was placed between my legs, I wonder if I would’ve landed differently?
I wonder every single day.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...ography-unbroken/story-fni2u98u-1227429551442

 

[betcats]

A lot of the text size and funny formatting is from the tele, couldnt figure it out.

 

[Craig Johnston]

congrats at least to jordan mclean for sending his heartfelt sms to alex, even though alex didn't want to talk to jordan at the time, it obviously meant something to him as it would have if grub smith had the balls to do the same

 

[chigurh]

Finding a reason to be upset with the Storm because they didn't appeal the suspension?

It's getting rather petty now.

 

[betcats]

Funny that people are blaming this as a media beat up, is that the default response for some people when anything negative is said about nrl? Either way its pretty hard to argue with Alex own words.

 

[POPEYE]

Wankerville is open for business

 

[betcats]

Finding a reason to be upset with the Storm because they didn't appeal the suspension?

It's getting rather petty now.

He was upset with them for implying they could appeal it and get off. After the storm captain already blaming alex i can see why he is sensitive to it.