Craig Smith?

[Fairleigh Good!]

St Helens young GB prospect John Stankevitch has today been told that he has only 10% chance of playing again, following an incident in the 2003 Play off series with Wigan.

The incident involving a tackle with Wigan's Craig Smith left Stankevitch with, to quote Ian Millward, "Nothing but jelly between his shoulder and his elbow". The incident is described by Millward as "Horrific" after Stankevitch was hit by "BOTH KNEES" in the tackle. Millward said in an emotional press release that he is distraught for Stankevitch, he certainly made it sound bleak.

Smith last season received a formal warning from the RFL about his conduct, particularly the use of knees in the tackle.

Is this why he was chased out of the NRL by the disciplinary panel, or was that someone else?

 

[Pigskin]

You got it in one :?

Off the top of my head, he recieved a few suspensions .... progressively getting larger and was basically warned that if he committed the act again he could be facing a ban. So he pulled up stumps and moved to the UK. Slate clean.

Oink !

 

[nqboy]

A clarification. Smith was hounded out of the NRL for repeated incidents of lifting his knees when in possession and about to be tackled. From your wording, it seemed that he might have dropped his knees while making a tackle. Is that correct?

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

A clarification. Smith was hounded out of the NRL for repeated incidents of lifting his knees when in possession and about to be tackled. From your wording, it seemed that he might have dropped his knees while making a tackle. Is that correct?

No it was when Smith was in possession. I was hammered at the time and can't remember seeing it, but I do remember people near me wanted to smash Smith's car in :lol:

It's tragic for Stankers though, he looks to have paid a high price. Reading more about the injury, it seems the nerves in his arm have died and the bone is not healing. Sounds very severe, got my fingers crossed for the lad.

Thinking back now there was controversy over the letter from the RFL. Stuart Fielden of Bradford copped a ban for doing it once or twice, yet Smith only got a letter and looks to have ended a young lads career.

 

[Pierced Soul]

the NRL Judiciary was criticised for pulling SMith up each time and his club and himself kept saying ehw as picked on and "forced out" of the NRL. The reality was that It was dangerous and the nrl did the right thing in penalising him.

Unfortunately it seems like he's been able to get away with it over there, and has seriously injured someone.....

 

[Anonymous]

Enterning into tackles in with the knees in such a matter is of pure violence and something I'd like to see severly punished.

 

[JK]

[Earl, I can never concentrate on your posts when you have the lovely lass in your avatar!]

Remember the moaning from Dragon fans when the NRL cited Smith again and again.

I'm waiting for their apology...

 

[nqboy]

One of the Dragons' fans main complaints, as I remember, was that other player wee doing the same thing and not copping the same scrutiny. I agree with getting it out of the game but a bit of consistency, please. I've saw it creeping back into the game last season.

 

[TRANSLATION]

[Earl, I can never concentrate on your posts when you have the lovely lass in your avatar!]

Remember the moaning from Dragon fans when the NRL cited Smith again and again.

I'm waiting for their apology...

C Smith got into trrouble with the game for many things, Accidental forearm cost him 6 weeks, knees to the back cost him 4 weeks, high tackle cost him 6 weeks, lifting knees got him a few weeks, twice.

It was not all lifting knees, Mate he does lift his knees, but never hit anyone with them, unlike stevens, Mgdougall.

Kearns, Morley, PEDRO, Parsons, all use the knee for power at certain stages in their game. Yet Craig got cut out. This incident is unfortunate for craig. But shit happens.

 

[Booyah]

Enterning into tackles in with the knees in such a matter is of pure violence and something I'd like to see severly punished.

Yet many props still do it.

Primarily Parsons, Seu Seu, Vella and Stevens. I also see that loser Josh Perry doing it, but he's such a soft-cock, it doesn't have the same effect.

My point is, many props do it week in, week out in the NRL. If you want to punish one, you have to punish them all.

 

[Hoggy]

Primarily Parsons, Seu Seu, Vella and Stevens. I also see that loser Josh Perry doing it, but he's such a soft-c**k, it doesn't have the same effect.

Just out of interest why is Perry a softcock yet Parsons, Seu Seu, Vella and Stevens aren't?

 

[JJ]

Primarily Parsons, Seu Seu, Vella and Stevens. I also see that loser Josh Perry doing it, but he's such a soft-c**k, it doesn't have the same effect.

Just out of interest why is Perry a softcock yet Parsons, Seu Seu, Vella and Stevens aren't?

That's a matter of opinion - Seuseu seems to me to be by far the worst offender, yet nobody in the NZ press says anything - do they in Aust??

Quite frankly, I view the way Seuseu and Villa play as a bit soft. Most of Villa's big hits are blind, he misses many tackles, and the "hit" on Fittler in the GF was just cowardly.

Seuseu flouts the rules with every hit up, and shouldnlt be tolerated.

Stevens has gone really soft over the last few years.

Parsons' problems might arise from the fact that he's just so big... and Perry ain't soft

 

[Anonymous]

That's a matter of opinion - Seuseu seems to me to be by far the worst offender, yet nobody in the NZ press says anything - do they in Aust??

Quite frankly, I view the way Seuseu and Villa play as a bit soft. Most of Villa's big hits are blind, he misses many tackles, and the "hit" on Fittler in the GF was just cowardly.

Seuseu flouts the rules with every hit up, and shouldnlt be tolerated.

Totally agree, except about the GF hit. Villasanti is the most overrated player in years. I still can't believe anyone believes his press.

 

[Simo]

I think he meant Vella as in Michael Vella, not Villasanti.

I think ;-)

 

[JJ]

:? :lol: oh.... ahhh well he's soft too!! But in a different way.

 

[Anonymous]

[Earl, I can never concentrate on your posts when you have the lovely lass in your avatar!]

Remember the moaning from Dragon fans when the NRL cited Smith again and again.

I'm waiting for their apology...

LOL. You'll can be waiting for sometime.
There was no consistency in the rulings. It was common with a lot of players and some who were getting away with all sorts of stuff.
btw, Smith was initially charged following complaints to the media by Melb coach, Chris Anderson. Ray Warren was mentioning it on TV as well. It was only after it hit the media that Jim Hall and his judiciary took notice.

It raised more questions than knees as to why other players were not being cited for some pretty dodgy stuff. It was frustrating at the time.... other players with the same running action who were not even getting a paragraph in the press although I do recall that a couple were suspended following pressure being applied... as usual, the match review committee (Jim Hall was also the chairman on the MRC as well as the judiciary) was more prone to reaction rather than action.

Interestingly, after Smith was driven out of the country, not one player was cited for lifting knees for the next 12 months... but I can assure that it was still part of the game and still exists today.

He was eventually suspended for six weeks for falling on Kev Walters with his elbow... Wayne Bennett publicly criticised the referee and a media frenzy followed.

At the time Jim Hall made numerous references to the extent of injury - which went against the grain of supposed guidelines... the action was supposed to influence the judiciary, not the resulting injury. Hall also made public mention about Walters and how he was a player of high standing. Again, this should have had no influence but here was the chairman of the judiciary bringing it up in the media. Hall also release a statement saying that, "There was no need for Smith to lead with his elbow as he fell to the ground on the defenceless Bronco halfback."

It was unfortunate what happened to Walters but it was an accident, despite Jim Hall's ruling.
Loads of supporters, coaches, players and commentators went into bat for Smith on that one, not just Saints fans.
And it certainly had nothing to do with his running style.

Anyway there was quite a bit of fallout from the 2001 judiciary. Some will recall Phil Gould mounting a defence of Smith and Jim Hall subsequently going to court over what Gould said. There was also a falling out afterwards with the NRL over a number of issues including Hall's failure to cite Gorden Tallis... and as we know, Jim Hall isnt with the judiciary anymore.

btw, when Smith went to Wigan, coach Stuart Raper said that he is 'unfazed' by the Smith's NRL judiciary record.

I have no knowledge of the incident in the UK but if he has been found guilty well thems the breaks.
I havent been following his career for the last two years. In any case, it has nothing to do with what happened in Australia in 2001.

 

[Kaz]

Were people going on about lifting the knees in tackles when Doogs plays.

I don't know if anyone remembers the Origin several years back when he hurt Julian O'Neill, when Doogs lifted his knees.

I know it is different circumstances, but Doogs lifts his knees all the time.

 

[Anonymous]

That was a big example Kaz. He was also criticised for kicking Geoff Toovey in the face in the 97 grand final. lol. depends how far you want to go back.

 

[The Original Eye]

Craig Smith, alongside Fieldon, has been the best prop in England for about the last year. Took a while to find his feet, but he's now delivering the goods. Smith has not been found guilty for this incident, and as far as I can remeber, his disiplinary record is pretty good.

If Ian Millward said Stankevitch had a 10% chance of playing again, I would not believe him.