Some believe rugby league is fighting fit, others say it can't afford to take a belting. Alex Brown reports.
Tommy Raudonikis, the patron saint of rugby league fisticuffs, believes Danny Williams deserves a lengthy suspension from the NRL judiciary tonight.
Not so much for daring to swing a punch - toe-to-toe combat, Raudonikis insists, is an integral part of the game. Instead, Raudonikis's disappointment stems from the fact Williams struck Mark O'Neill with a "sucker punch", delivered while the Tigers forward was looking the other way and rendering him unconscious.
"There's stinking, and then there's hitting a bloke from behind," Raudonikis said. "You don't do it like that, and there's no way you can condone it. Back in the '70s, you'd face up to a bloke, sort everything out and have a beer after the game. There was nothing snide or under-handed about it. That's a part of rugby league the fans love."
The NRL establishment disagrees. Although David Gallop concedes that on-field brawling may have "some appeal to a minority", the league's chief executive insists violence is unacceptable in the modern game.
But where does the average league fan stand? In Raudonikis's camp, where duels such as the infamous Mark Broadhurst-Steve Bowden stoush in 1981 still capture the imagination, defining league's tough-man image? Or in that of the NRL, where such confrontations are perceived as a negative influence on the next generation of players and un-appealing for would-be sponsors?
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The growing popularity of Matthew Johns's alter ego, Reg Reagan, would suggest the former, given the public's embracing of his "Bring back the biff" motto and current single Am I ever going to see the biff again?, performed with the band The Knucklemen. So, too, would a segment aired on Channel Nine's Boots 'N All program at the weekend, in which outgoing NSW coach Phil Gould and Reagan compered a highlights reel of rugby league's more notable punch-ups.
When asked whether Reagan's commercial success indicated a public fascination with on-field confrontations, Johns's manager, John Fordham, said: "You would have to ask the public, but I can remember years back when Rex Mossop was commentating, saying they should bring back a bit of biff.
"What Matthew does is just a bit of fun and very tongue-in-cheek. In no way does he support violence in sport . . . and the fact that sales of his DVD and single are rocketing doesn't suggest that the people buying them are committed to violence. They're just having fun."
Marketable or not, Gallop's view on "the biff" remains black-and-white.
"Whether [fighting] is embraced or isn't, it's totally unacceptable," he said. "It might have some appeal to a minority of league supporters but while it is a part of the game's past, it is definitely not a part of its present.
"The bottom line is the kind of attention it brings - like it has this week [after the Williams-O'Neill incident on Saturday night] - is not good for the game in any way."
Raudonikis supports Gallop's stance on Williams's king hit, although differs on the chief executive's broader view on fisticuffs within the game. Before the third State of Origin encounter, the former NSW player and coach told 2GB's audience that he hoped for the occasional flare-up during the game - a wish granted when Mark O'Meley and Michael Crocker engaged in a wild-swinging brawl.
That incident, Raudonikis suggests, evokes strong emotional responses from league supporters. He has no statistical evidence to support his stance; only the roar of the crowd when two gladiatorial figures face off in the middle of a rugby league arena.
"That's entirely different, it's man-on-man, player-against-player, having a little bit of a stink and nobody getting badly hurt," Raudonikis said. "Incidents where someone who wasn't even looking gets a broken jaw just isn't right. People don't like cowards' acts. It [Williams's punch] was a pretty weak thing to do.
"But I think rugby league is losing its toughness. When you're talking about stinks, she's all over red rover. Everybody loves a little bit of a scrap, like in the last State of Origin, and after one happens, it's what everybody talks about. It's just less and less a part of the game these days and I think it's going to keep heading that way."
