curious said:
I dont want to see people getting injured, but at the same time i dont want every player with agression sitting on the sidelines.
I am a Queenslander, and there was nothing in Lyons tackle. And i dont believe there was anything other then a bump in Dallas's tackle, if we start suspending players for 3 weeks for this sort of infringment, we wont have any players worth a pinch of salt playing the game.
If you want to start penalising players for that, then send him off. Or use a 5 min or 10min in the sin bin, at least this will help the team that actually coped the infrigment.
And if further action is required then fine him money. I think suspension should be used for only the most serious of charges.
No dramas Dani, I wouldn't class it life threatening myself either just quietly ;-)
curious, I didn't see Lyon's tackle so won't comment. Johnson's tackle received a fairly low grading, a grade 2 careless I believe. As far as it was just a bump, I class Maitua as a strong willed player and he copped it sweet, lying on the park for a minute or two receiving attention. It probably could have been incurred an even higher grading, particularly as others have pointed out being third in when it wasn't necessary there could have been a case for a grade 1 reckless. If anything, the gradings this year are unbelievably low. Take some of the spears, my own team's player Tony Martin corked a shocker on Misi Taulapapa and got 2 weeks, downgraded to 1 week. That wasn't far off having extremely serious and dire consequences for Taulapapa. The neck area is a fragile, but very important part of a human's body, in this instance it's more good luck than good management that nothing occured. I doubt any player goes out to maim someone, I doubt Kearney and Bai did on Jarrod McCracken, and I still have doubts that Adam Ritson was deliberately targetted. Even Martin Lang or Nathan Long who copped habitual hard shots I don't think were ever deliberately and illegally targetted for dangerous tackles. Perhaps hard tackles, but not dangerous. However, McCracken and Ritson are proof that slip up, one piece of bad luck and not good management can leave a player with some serious repurcussions.
Out of that tackle, Maitua could have copped a severe concussion and a broken nose. Again, I don't think Johnson intended that, although he was 'careless' in his actions to nearly cause a serious injury to Maitua. While it didn't turn out that way, as shown with Taulapapa v McCracken the differences in technique are only slight, it comes more down to luck and we need to minimise the core actions that put these players at risk. Johnson's grading is not life threatening, he will play again, to me it's a fair serve. Personally, I think the likes of Tony Martin and other 'dangerous throw' tacklers probably deserve longer suspensions, because as McCracken has shown, there's an almighty risk of something going very wrong. The last thing we need is to see the medicab on every 2nd or 3rd week, as seemed to be the case a decade or so ago (granted, a lot of knees seemed to go a while ago so it wasn't all foul player). I can also say I have always gone for Queensland, and strongly believe Dallas Johnson is a pivotal player for the Maroons, moreso I think he's a great asset for Melbourne, another team fighting odds like my own team so a team I hope and am thankful for their success to spread the word of rugby league, as slow as the 'word' gathering pace may be it is happening. So it pains me that he is staring down the barrel, but honestly, how would it pain us all if he copped 1 or 2 weeks and Maitua copped a very serious injury out of it?
