Bennett slams TV stoppages
By Wayne Heming And Laine Clark
March 17, 2007
FUMING Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett accused rugby league officials of "tampering with the fabric of the game" after commercial breaks during Channel 9's coverage forced stoppages to play in the match against North Queensland last night.
Bennett had no complaints with his side's 23-16 loss to the Cowboys n a spectacular season opener at Suncorp Stadium, but he slammed a decision to stop play while the host broadcaster showed ads to viewers.
I had no idea, Bennett said when asked about the stoppages that shocked Brisbane vice-captain Petero Civoniceva.
I hope that's the last we see of it, Bennett fumed.
Of course it's worrying.
Every time they do that, they are playing with the fabric of the game.
When you have the opposition down and on the rack, it gives them time to recover. An extra 30 or 40 seconds is a huge recovery time.
Civoniceva said when he questioned referee Steve Clark about the break in play that he was told we have to wait for an add break.
In a game of momentum, you take that away ... they get their gas back, it's a bit unfair, Civoniceva said.
The prop said the pace of the game had been incredibly intense for the first match of the season.
NRL chief executive David Gallop had bad news for Bennett after the game, confirming that the stoppages would continue as part of an arrangement with Nine, which televised two matches tonight, including Melbournes narrow 18-16 win over Wests Tigers.
It's something we need to monitor, but it's also something we need to accept because we're getting two games of footy on Friday nights now, Gallop said in the Broncos dressing room within ear shot of Bennett.
Our broadcasters need to be doing what they need to do to bring us two games of footy, so we just need to keep an eye on that for the next few weeks.
It's something we've agreed to but we've also agreed to monitor it as well, and that's what we'll do.
While Bennett implied that he had not been told about the TV stoppages, Gallop believed that had been told it would happen.
It concerns me if the coach didn't know about it, so I'll look into that, Gallop said.
Cowboys coach Graham Murray seemed to back Bennett's comments that the stoppages for ad breaks had come out of the blue.
We would have passed it onto the players if we were told, Murray said.
It's probably just teething problems in the first week.
North Queensland halfback Johnathan Thurston, who was named man of the match after featuring in all four of the Cowboys tries, said the stoppages had worked against Brisbane when they building momentum in the second half, and got back to 16-16.
They got a fair bit of momentum in the second half, and you just want to kick the ball out and try and rip back into them, the Cowboys captain said.
Brisbane captain Darren Lockyer seemed perplexed at one point when he was about to kick the football and Clark told him to wait.
Diminutive Cowboys fullback Matt Bowen landed the match-winning strikes for the visitors, scoring a magical try in the 73rd minute and then sealing victory with a cheeky field goal two minutes from full-time.
The match may yet have an intriguing aftermath once the NR match review committee goes over game footage of a 31st-minute incident involving Cowboys forward Sione Faumuina and Brisbane lock Tonie Carroll.
Faumuina, marched 10 metres for mouthing off, complained that Carroll had gouged his eyes in a tackle.
But when referee Tim Mander asked if he wanted to make a formal complaint, Faumuina declined.
Faumuina said in the dressing room that the incident was done and dusted.
The ref dealt with it, Faumuina, playing his 100th NRL game, said.
I'm just going to move on and look forward to the Roosters next week.
Bennett said he didn't see the incident.
Earlier Cowboys Test forward Luke O'Donnell was penalised for a careless swinging arm that hit Brisbane fullback Justin Hodges in the face, another incident that could come under review.
