You Are Kidding

[lockyno1]

How on earth did Gregan just get 1 week! FFS he should have got 4 months bare minimum!

 

[Timbo]

Disgraceful.

 

[lockyno1]

See now I get where the kiwis are coming from. Tipoki or whatever his name was gets 4 months which at the time was reasonable considering the act committed. Now Gregan does something WORSE and gets a week! FFS the SANZAR committee is a joke!

 

[morri (cWo)]

beats me.

 

[aqua_duck]

If Kahui had suffered a jarrod McCracken like injury how many weeks would the little sh*t have got? It was through good luck rather than anything gregan did that Kahui wasn't hurt

 

[Te Kaha]

It's no wonder the ARU doesnt want an independent panel to decide each case... they have and always will look after their own...

 

[Twizzle]

not much different to Crocker's tackle

 

[aussies1st]

Craig is actually happy with the punishment given to Gregan but not to Croker.

 

[Twizzle]

Gregan ban just 'disgusting'
By Dean Ritchie
May 9, 2006

LEADING orthopaedic surgeon Dr Merv Cross last night slammed rugby union's decision to suspend Australia captain George Gregan for just one week, describing his weekend spear tackle as "disgusting" and worthy of a 10-week ban.

The kid glove treatment of Gregan, after his dangerous Super 14 tackle on Highlanders winger Richard Kahui, came as the National Rugby League charged Melbourne's Michael Crocker with a grade four dangerous throw on South Sydney's Shane Rigon.

Crocker will be suspended for nine matches if he enters an early guilty plea, 12 if he fights the case and loses.

"The fact Gregan only got one week is disgusting," Cross said.

"(Gregan's) tackle was dangerous. Had it been another player, you can't help but think he would have been given a bigger suspension," Dr Cross said.

"You only need to see one player become a quadriplegic and everyone loses interest (in the sport).

"I think league has got it right, I don't think union has.

"I thought that rugby union, given the incidence of neck injuries, would have been more severe than just one match.

Many experienced commentators and players from both codes believe Gregan's spear tackle was worse than Crocker's.

The impending suspension of Crocker, who has been outed seven times since 2002, will end his chances of representing Queensland in this year's State of Origin series.

"Michael Crocker is a bloke who should have known better," Dr Cross said.

Crocker's grade four charge carries a base penalty of a seven-week ban which would be increased because of past offences.

Gregan's one-week ban means he will miss the fourth-placed Brumbies's final regular season match against the Super 14-leader the Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday night.

But he will be available for the semi-finals the next weekend if the Brumbies make the top four.

Former dual international Ray Price is one former player not calling for tough action.

He said he had viewed both tackles and had no problems with either.

"(Kahui) landed across the back of his shoulder," Price, arguably one of the greatest forwards to play league and union, said.

"Gregan didn't have his hands between his legs. I saw nothing wrong with the tackle."

Asked about the Crocker tackle, Price said: "It was a good tackle."

The Daily Telegraph

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,19067208-5002381,00.html

 

[bayrep]

If Gregan had done the act in NZ then it would have been a NZ panel that looked at it and he would have got more than a week.

Gregan must walk on water as the ARU treat him like a god who can do no wrong.

 

[douglasallen91]

as if anything was going to happen to gregan by the aussie section, just remove him basically from a dead rubber (acts view- bulls and sharks arn't going to win by enough).

 

[Ridders]

i feel sorry for crocker...i mean i know there two different judiciaries and i'm not defending what he did....but how would u feel gettin suspended for at least 9 games for a tackle, ruining your whole origin campaign, and then see someone do the exact same thing and get only a week

 

[aussies1st]

I thought he would have got longer but thats the ARU for you.

 

[fieldo]

What a disgrace!!!!!!

Poor Crocker...I was at the Souths game and I knew as soon as the ref went back Crocker was in trouble( it actually was a near late tackle).....I saw Gregans tackle and I believe it was worse.

In the papers .....

AUSTRALIAN mums don't care about how many rugby league players the Australian Rugby Union chases. They don't care about third-party deals that threaten the game's payment structure.

But they defintiely worry about safety when deciding what sport their kids should play.

So when George Gregan escapes with a laughable one-game ban for a blatant spear tackle, the weak-kneed judiciary finding has far greater potential to undermine the code's credibility than any big-money contracts for Mark Gasnier or Matt Giteau.

Rugby union authorities just don't get it.

On the same day Gregan is stood down for a week, rugby league forward Michael Crocker is charged on a similar tackle that has a base penalty of seven weeks.

Influential figures in rugby union circles were suggesting yesterday, off the record of course, that the Gregan tackle was even worse.

If ever there was an appalling decision to underline that rugby league has a better and more transparent judiciary system, then the Gregan penalty is it.

Only idiots in the rugby union administration will argue.

How else can you explain the inconsistencies?

New South Wales Waratahs flanker Rocky Elsom gets rubbed out for four weeks by a South African tribunal for punching a Bulls rival.
Waratahs prop Benn Robinson has his head stomped by a Highlanders forward in Dunedin, requires five stitches to close the wound, and yet the wrong player is cited by a New Zealand tribunal and the real offender escapes any action whatsoever.

Now Gregan, appearing before an Australian committee in his hometown Canberra, is handed a single week on the sidelines for an action considered among the most dangerous in the game.

A punch can split a lip, extract a tooth, perhaps break a jaw. A spear tackle has the potential to leave its victim wheelchair-bound. How does the lesser act earn a penalty four times greater?

What does Wendell Sailor think? He copped three weeks for vomiting in a pot plant.

The Gregan punishment just doesn't fit the crime, and now, to remove any perception that risk of suspension is reduced if you front a tribunal at home, the ARU has to lead a push for independent panels.

Damn the cost. The game is professional. Worry about the logistics later. But the code must win back the respectability it has lost with the Gregan decision.

He should have been facing at least six weeks. Give him two weeks off for an exemplary record - a luxury Elsom was certainly not afforded - and it still amounts to four matches out.

If the Brumbies failed to reach the Super 14 play-offs, that would leave Gregan out of action for the season's first three Tests.

Even if the Brumbies did make the play-offs, and won their semi-final, a month-long ban would have him ineligible for the first Test against England.

Then the penalty would have meant something. But one game? It's a disgrace and you won't convince the mums otherwise.

The Daily Telegraph

 

[douglasallen91]

to be honost about rocky elsom it was more than one punch while the guy getting punched couldn't do anything.

 

[bayrep]

I agree with that Article Fieldo. I thought 12 weeks with say 6 weeks off for an exemplary record. But 1 week makes a farce of the judiciary system. I would love to know who was on the panel ??

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Damn it would be good if either the Sharks or Bulls manged a bonus point win by a big margin this weekend and the Brumbies got absolutely flogged by the Crusaders and missed out. Would serve the grubs right.

 

[Jackal Dog]

Which could happen, no Larkham, Gituea or Gregan plus the Bulls did put 70+ on the Stormers last year so the Brumbies could be left with egg on their faces....

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Which could happen, no Larkham, Gituea or Gregan plus the Bulls did put 70+ on the Stormers last year so the Brumbies could be left with egg on their faces....

Hopefully the Crusaders switch into finals mode this week and really try to put some hurt on them. It's threatening to be a bit of a wierd finals series, if the Tahs and Crusaders win, and the Brumbies still survive, we'll have exact repeats of final round matches in both semifinals.

 

[Jackal Dog]

The egg is starting to sizzle! Brumbies get thumped by Saders 33-3. Sharks only need a bonus point and a margin of 10+ points and Brumbies are gooorrrrnnnnn!!!