Rebecca Wilson: The smell of scandal has become a stench that threatens to derail rugby league
Dave Smith, the new commission and all of those who continue to hand out light punishments to the offenders, must understand that this has become a mammoth crisis.Let's start with Paul Gallen. The NSW captain has turned himself into a hero for his cowardly attack on Queenslander Nate Myles. But those wise enough to distance themselves from a debate between Blues and Maroons supporters believe league sank to new depths the night of the first Origin.Here was the captain, unleashing on a player who did not raise a fist in protest. Under the rules of any other sport, he would be immediately sent from the field. In league, his coach says it was a "great moment in Origin" and his judiciary judges ruled king hitting an opponent without answer was only worth a week off the field.Gallen had the hide to arc up about his punishment, blaming Myles, the judiciary and even the code for promoting the biff. Some former league players who now make a handsome living from commentating on the game patted him on the back on his way through more than a dozen media appearances.Gallen soon appeared to believe he was truly wronged. Nobody had asked those who had watched it, the fringe observers who only engage during Origin, what they had thought of the sickly attack as they watched from their lounge rooms.
