When a court is sentencing "deterrent" is a big part of their thinking. The NRL don't really have to deter what Mam did because the court criminal system does that and it is rare. This other needs to the Deeeteeeerd hard by the NRL because it is worse for the game.
If there was 20 such horrific driving incidents each off season and the culprits where not already getting punished by the court and it was threatening the whole product then maybe they would be much more severe.
Mam's entire ordeal is a terrible look for the game - especially now that he's a Premiership-winning player.
His legal punishment should have been held separate to his NRL punishment - which it was, but i hardly think a 9-game suspension for a case which was very nearly involuntary manslaughter while under the influence of drugs is sufficient.
To be fair, he should have sat out the season.
But he copped 9 games - not even half the season.
Meanwhile, players who are doing nothing wrong - simply chasing money, which the majority of day-to-day people do - are facing 10-year bans...
It's ludicrous, and shows a side of the NRL which is farcical, at best.
If the NRL is confident in their product, they could let players go rot in Rugby 360 for a few seasons, make a few million dollars, then come back to the NRL to further enrich the code.
Instead, they're essentially saying that you're a worse offender than someone who almost killed people, in their eyes.
It's idiocy, and it makes no sense.