NRL issue Penrith breach notice over trainer incident

NRL breach notice to Panthers​

National Rugby League | September 21 2021 12:44PM

The National Rugby League (NRL) has issued the Penrith Panthers with a Breach Notice proposing the Club be fined $25,000 and the Club's Orange Trainer suspended from accessing the field of play and sideline for the remainder of the 2021 season after an alleged breach of the game's Operations Manual.

The Breach Notice alleges the Club's Orange Trainer stopped play incorrectly in the 76th minute of Saturday night's NRL Telstra Premiership Final against the Parramatta Eels.

The Manual makes it clear that a Head Trainer can only stop play after making an initial assessment that circumstances require a doctor to enter the field of play.

The NRL has also issued a warning to the Club's Blue Trainer for his role in the stoppage.

The club will be permitted to use an alternative staff member in the Orange trainer role for the remainder of the season to ensure the welfare of Panthers players.

The Panthers have 5 business days to respond to the Breach Notice. A provisional suspension applies until the Club's response has been received.

LINK: NRL breach notice to Panthers » League Unlimited

 

[SLRBRONCOS]

This is the total opposite of what happened at Suncorp when the Broncos were leading Penrith and Cleary was knocked the f**k out.

That Penrith medical team operate like the Chinese National Health Commission. Must. Suit. Our. Agenda. Pre.

 

[mxlegend99]

I struggle to see why the play has to stop at all unless
a) the player is seriously Injured and needs a stretcher
b) the player is in the way of play

if neither of the above play on like we did for generations! This has come about because of another knee jerk reaction to the ref not stopping play a couple of years ago.

How can you tell when a player is in the way of the play? While it can sometimes be immediately obvious it can also change extremely quickly. Kenny was near enough to the play where he very well could have been in the way. Anything can happen. Intercepts. Passes missing the park sending teams backwards scrambling, offloads and praying etc.

Blake was about as out of the way as it gets. Yet the NRL are fine with play stopping for a bloke being treated on the sideline. Not for a bloke in the middle of the field not too far from where the ball is. There's no clear cut way to get decisions right 100% of the time or put procedures in place where teams can't game the rules. Sadly this is about as good (and bad) as it will ever be.

 

[blaza88z]

This is the total opposite of what happened at Suncorp when the Broncos were leading Penrith and Cleary was knocked the f**k out.

That Penrith medical team operate like the Chinese National Health Commission. Must. Suit. Our. Agenda. Pre.

Very true, forgot about that

 

[some11]

It is just a media beat up to generate more controversy!
It didnt affect the game any more that the trainer stopping the game to escort Blake down the sideline when he was already off the field.
Parra should cop exactly the same penalty for the same offence.

It completely killed the eels momentum

 

[some11]

It's funny how a select few smug fans are more outraged about this than the fans of the team they cheated against lol

Penrith fans have reached peak insufferablility this year.

Another failure will just amplify it.

 

[mxlegend99]

It completely killed the eels momentum dickhead.

Stopping play for Blake stopped Panthers momentum. Every stop in play does that for the attacking tean. Also stopping play for injured players means the attacking team is losing tackles against a defensive line missing players.

People act like in this one situation they were definitely going to win the game yet based on the other 79 minutes odds are nothing happens except for probably another error.

Both teams bombed try scoring opportunities you would say were guaranteed tries moments earlier.

 

[skeepe]

How can you tell when a player is in the way of the play? While it can sometimes be immediately obvious it can also change extremely quickly. Kenny was near enough to the play where he very well could have been in the way. Anything can happen. Intercepts. Passes missing the park sending teams backwards scrambling, offloads and praying etc.

Blake was about as out of the way as it gets. Yet the NRL are fine with play stopping for a bloke being treated on the sideline. Not for a bloke in the middle of the field not too far from where the ball is. There's no clear cut way to get decisions right 100% of the time or put procedures in place where teams can't game the rules. Sadly this is about as good (and bad) as it will ever be.

The funny thing about your post is that none of that matters. Parra followed the HIA protocol with Blake, which allows for the game to be stopped to get the player off the field.

Penrith did not follow the correct protocol for non-concussion injuries, which states that the trainer must make an initial assessment first before calling for the game to be stopped. He did not do that. Despite being allowed to run on to the field to look after an injured player at any time, he ran straight to the touch judge first. His sole concern was to stop play, not look after the injured player. I‘ve seen Panthers fans claim the touch judge is in the wrong, but it’s not his job to know whether the trainer has assessed the player first - he has to keep his eye on the play.

The strawman arguments I’ve seen in this thread from moaning Panthers fans has been hilarious.

What about Fergo! Sure it was a terrible look, and we all wish players could be punished for it, but the reality is there’s no rule against it. There IS a rule against what the Panthers trainer did, in black and white.

What about Moses! Unfortunately there’s no rule against exaggerating contact looking for an obstruction penalty. If there was, Viliame Kikau would be the most punished man in the NRL.

The Panthers cheated, they got caught, and now they need to take their medicine and stop f**king whinging about it.

 

[mxlegend99]

This would be my solution. If a trainer asks for play to be stopped with the other team with the ball, it restarts the tackle count.

Seems like a good idea. Also make that new set against 12 men so the team disadvantaged gets some of the advantage back

 

[Knight76]

All teams rort the rules as much as possible.

Seen plenty of HIA rorts where the player is subbed off for a free interchange, though no sign of any head knock. Hell, seen players go down clutching ankle, trainer assesses ankle, then taps head as player limps off for HIA.

So if trainer wants to stop the game they will just use the concussion rule to do so. But, this instance the trainer didn't go to assess the player first at all. Straight to the touchy.

I really do want to hear Cleary's voice comms to the trainer at that moment. I'm betting he is screaming in to his walkie to go stop the game. Parra were on a roll, had momentum, Penrith were looking unsettled in D. But I doubt the NRL wants to expose that level of manipulation.

I can't say Parra would have scored, but the game, the product we are trying to put forward, excitement, that edge of your seat feeling, needs these moments to balance out the 50-0 blowouts. And the game was robbed of that tense moment by Penrith cheating to kill Parra momentum, and to give their D line a chance to reset.

Lets let the player decide who wins games as much as possible.

 

[Nealo 12]

The funny thing about your post is that none of that matters. Parra followed the HIA protocol with Blake, which allows for the game to be stopped to get the player off the field.

Penrith did not follow the correct protocol for non-concussion injuries, which states that the trainer must make an initial assessment first before calling for the game to be stopped. He did not do that. Despite being allowed to run on to the field to look after an injured player at any time, he ran straight to the touch judge first. His sole concern was to stop play, not look after the injured player. I‘ve seen Panthers fans claim the touch judge is in the wrong, but it’s not his job to know whether the trainer has assessed the player first - he has to keep his eye on the play.

The strawman arguments I’ve seen in this thread from moaning Panthers fans has been hilarious.

What about Fergo! Sure it was a terrible look, and we all wish players could be punished for it, but the reality is there’s no rule against it. There IS a rule against what the Panthers trainer did, in black and white.

What about Moses! Unfortunately there’s no rule against exaggerating contact looking for an obstruction penalty. If there was, Viliame Kikau would be the most punished man in the NRL.

The Panthers cheated, they got caught, and now they need to take their medicine and stop f**king whinging about it.

All this from the biggest whinger to ever lace up a keyboard

 

[soc123_au]

I'd like to hear cleary's voice comms to his head trainer at that time to see if he was instructing him to go stop the game. Very interested indeed!

Most likely very similar to what we saw from Madge on the Tigertown doco. "Stop the f**king game" No hint of "Quick, check on the welfare of (insert injured players name) we need to make sure he is safe"

The player welfare part is just bs, as shown by the incident @SLRBRONCOS mentioned where we played on in a similar situation but we had the momentum.

I don't have an issue that we copped a breach notice over it. My only issue is the narrative that we are the only ones doing it. I just hope the NRL comes up with clear plans to fix the issue with this kind of thing and gamesmanship in general and the media doesn't whinge when a favourite gets sanctioned for still doing it.

 

[nick87]

All teams rort the rules as much as possible.

Seen plenty of HIA rorts where the player is subbed off for a free interchange, though no sign of any head knock. Hell, seen players go down clutching ankle, trainer assesses ankle, then taps head as player limps off for HIA.

So if trainer wants to stop the game they will just use the concussion rule to do so. But, this instance the trainer didn't go to assess the player first at all. Straight to the touchy.

I really do want to hear Cleary's voice comms to the trainer at that moment. I'm betting he is screaming in to his walkie to go stop the game. Parra were on a roll, had momentum, Penrith were looking unsettled in D. But I doubt the NRL wants to expose that level of manipulation.

I can't say Parra would have scored, but the game, the product we are trying to put forward, excitement, that edge of your seat feeling, needs these moments to balance out the 50-0 blowouts. And the game was robbed of that tense moment by Penrith cheating to kill Parra momentum, and to give their D line a chance to reset.

Lets let the player decide who wins games as much as possible.

Good post, can you email this to AOB and the knights trainer
Thanks in advanced.

 

[Fangs]

I'd like to hear cleary's voice comms to his head trainer at that time to see if he was instructing him to go stop the game. Very interested indeed!

He definately could of. We know all coaches do it.

Michael Macguire instructs his trainers to do it in their infamous TV documentary. Though it appeared his trainers either didn't want to or they were too incompetent. Resulted in the opposition scoring a try.

 

[The_Frog]

Penrith fans have reached peak insufferablility this year.

Pot to Kettle: You are black!!

 

[Captain Apollo]

How can you tell when a player is in the way of the play? While it can sometimes be immediately obvious it can also change extremely quickly. Kenny was near enough to the play where he very well could have been in the way. Anything can happen. Intercepts. Passes missing the park sending teams backwards scrambling, offloads and praying etc.

Blake was about as out of the way as it gets. Yet the NRL are fine with play stopping for a bloke being treated on the sideline. Not for a bloke in the middle of the field not too far from where the ball is. There's no clear cut way to get decisions right 100% of the time or put procedures in place where teams can't game the rules. Sadly this is about as good (and bad) as it will ever be.

Kenny was in line with the play the ball but was 20 metres behind it! So to say he was "near enough" is just complete bollards. The Panthers could have gotten Kenny off the field and subbed without disrupting play at all, but chose to do the opposite because their defence was on the back foot. No one had even attended to Kenny to know how serious the injury was.

 

[ACTPanthers]

No excuses imo. We flouted the rules and got found out. End of.

Even the punishment was a bit weak. It's not salary cap level cheating where points deductions are warranted, but I think at least the fine should have probably been bigger.

As @soc123_au said, all teams do it, we just got caught out by a pretty blatant one. It needs to stop from all teams.

 

[Someguy]

I struggle to see why the play has to stop at all unless
a) the player is seriously Injured and needs a stretcher
b) the player is in the way of play

totally agree. In all other situations just call the player ‘dead’ and trainer assists them from the field. Replacement can come on as soon as player is called ‘dead’ (for lack of better term). Minimal disadvantage to the team with injury and no stoppage.

the worst practice this season is leaving someone on who is clearly concussed just so their HIA and associated stoppage can be used at a strategic time.

 

[Someguy]

Even the punishment was a bit weak. It's not salary cap level cheating where points deductions are warranted, but I think at least the fine should have probably been bigger.

we have also seen points stripped for extra player on field. Not a stretch that this would be applied to this situation but being finals I doubt they would overturn a result

 

[Someguy]

Anything can happen. Intercepts. Passes missing the park sending teams backwards scrambling, offloads and praying etc.

If any of these situations unfold the whistle is blown. Very simple solution

 

[Floodwaters]

Sack the touch judge if anything