MRC At It Again - Verrills Suspended

[Carlos Parra]

The MRC and judiciary must be severely pi$$ed off that JWH didn't do what Verills allegedly did. But they'll probably focus on him this Friday. If he cops an early 'on report' penalty, I'd give him free reign to wreak havoc on Manly for the rest of the game.

[doves07]

Easts have been made the scapegoat this year because we don’t stand up enough for ourselves, are true gentlemen and sportsmen. MRC Bullies have no qualms singling out the innocent. Nick ought to threaten to create another break away league and ditch these jokers. Then we can have a true comp where the best team wins not the highest bribe. For Rugby League to survive we need a new comp that dumps Vlandys, the current refs, the bunker and MRC. Then and only then can RL thrive.

If you asked me a year ago would a break away, supper league be better for the game ,I would have said no
but its become a joke,rule changers,the bunker,refs not upto the standard the game deserves
Maybe it would work,12 strong teams playing each other twice, not expansion and creating a weaker competition

[Roosters1908]

On SEN, rugby league commentator Andrew Voss was furious, demanding the NRL judiciary process be overhauled during the off-season, labelling the Verrills ban a “joke”.

“If what Sam Verrills did really is a two-game ban offence, why would the referee not sin bin him during the game? Why would the bunker believe he shouldn’t be binned?” Voss wrote.

“The system is stuffed, it is absolutely stuffed.”

Voss also slammed the early plea discounts and the confusing loading and carry-over points system, adding: “Come post grand final, blow the whole damn system up.”

Plenty of others were also furious. NRL reporter Phil Rothfield tweeted: “The decision to suspend Sam Verrills for two weeks tonight is an utter disgrace. Worse incidents this year have resulted in fines. Verrills is a good, clean player. The NRL judiciary, match review, bunker and football department is an embarrassment.”

Journalist Cody Kaye wrote: “Sam Verrills does not deserve two weeks for that shot. Especially if Paulo is playing this weekend after accepting a fine for a very similar tackle.”

Broadcaster Mark Levy added: “If 3 former players on a judiciary panel think Sam Verrills’ tackle on Brian Kelly is grade 2 and worth 2 weeks on the sidelines, we have a MAJOR problem.

“Before you jump down my throat, I grew up supporting the Bunnies. Blow up the match review and judiciary and start again!!!”

Buzz was furious on Twitter last night. Said that Sam Verrills was “a good clean player” and I quote: “The NRL judiciary, match review, bunker and football department is an embarrassment”.
Couldn’t have said it better.

[redwhiteblue]

Buzz was furious on Twitter last night. Said that Sam Verrills was “a good clean player” and I quote: “The NRL judiciary, match review, bunker and football department is an embarrassment”.
Couldn’t have said it better.

It's quite disturbing all this media love for the Roosters lately..almost as disturbing as the decision. Sam is so young and so I don't know why this wasn't taken into consideration particularly with the rogues gallery of ex-footballers on the committee. Hard heads all of them in their own playing days. I really hope this doesn't mess with Sam's confidence for the future now that he has a 'record'. You can spot a grubby player a mile off on the field and Sam isn't one of them.

[redwhiteblue]

Time to switch off ch9

I stream Fox's coverage now on my laptop since I unplugged the telly nearly a year ago. Never been happier. I went to watch the extended highlights on NRL.com the other night and was disappointed they used the Nine coverage for that. I don't like their camera angles either as Fox showed much better footage of those final minutes from Saturday. I don't mind some of their good old Australian shows on 9NOW like the Flying Doctors so I just watch them online.

[redwhiteblue]

I'm the same as many others here who only watch Easts now. I used to watch every game and win the work and mates tipping comps. This year I think a dog may have beat me.

I stopped watching other games quite a while back too. I only switched on the second half of the Parra game the other day because it was so exciting. I watched 20 mins of Nine, couldn't stand it so then watched the remainder on Fox. I'll watch Parra again on Saturday night..only so I can eat my other bag of chips..the 2 young guys I have a tipping comp with at work stopped putting in tips..they just send me messages now like 'we hate the Vermin'..'Manly are Vermin too'... 'I hate everyone etc'(that last one from a Dragons fan..!) We talk about horses instead of NRL as it depresses them and they are far too young to be jaded and turned off by it all but there you have it. One of them watched a movie instead of his Raiders playing us a few weeks back..very few care anymore..

[Recky62]

I usually don’t agree with Buzz …but he got his thoughts on the Verrills suspension absolutely spot on …also I think that the stand up comic that is Andrew Voss shouldn’t be anywhere near a game with a live mic BUT a once again I find myself agreeing with him about Verrills and the absolute shit fight that is the points/loading system and the blokes controlling it

[Roosters1908]

Paul Kent also agreed on NRL360 that Verrills should have been downgraded. He said that Geoff Bellew, the judiciary chairman (who doesn’t get to decide on guilt or innocence) in his summing up seemed to think that it should have been downgraded. Kent went on to suggest that ex footballers shouldn’t be passing judgment about rules, he doubted they understood of the nuances of the arguments put to them by the players’ legal teams. In not so many words, he said that their brains weren’t up to it, which, if you think about what we now know about long term effects of concussions, he’s got a point.

For what it’s worth, Benny Elias also thought it was a rubbish decision. He got quite animated, as only he can.

None of this helps us, but hopefully it will lead to some changes to the MRC and judiciary. That might help us in the future.

[Big Dog]

Well it is obvious now that there are persons within the NRL who hate us.

[zac]

Paul Kent also agreed on NRL360 that Verrills should have been downgraded. He said that Geoff Bellew, the judiciary chairman (who doesn’t get to decide on guilt or innocence) in his summing up seemed to think that it should have been downgraded. Kent went on to suggest that ex footballers shouldn’t be passing judgment about rules, he doubted they understood of the nuances of the arguments put to them by the players’ legal teams. In not so many words, he said that their brains weren’t up to it, which, if you think about what we now know about long term effects of concussions, he’s got a point.

For what it’s worth, Benny Elias also thought it was a rubbish decision. He got quite animated, as only he can.

None of this helps us, but hopefully it will lead to some changes to the MRC and judiciary. That might help us in the future.

maybe the boys can use it as added motivation and it's got people on our side a bit more than normal

[ROC181]

This idea that ex players will be better judges in understanding the mechanics of a tackle to adjudicate fairly is out the window. Apparently before deliberating , these thick heads were given directions by the legal representative who is very experienced who’s name escapes me, YET these ex players still come up with a decision that the whole community, (with exception to jealous fans) do not see it that way. Either the legal rep is past his used by date that he did not advise them property or these ex players decide along club lines.

If most, if not all Journos can see how wrong this decision was, perhaps it’s best to give the decision to a collective of journos/commentators. Pick 10 journos/commentators in the game to make a decision. Out of the 10 then randomly select 5 and that will be the decision then the journos/commentators can explain it in the media why they arrived to such decision. It would be very transparent. It couldn’t get any worse!

[ROC181]

maybe the boys can use it as added motivation and it's got people on our side a bit more than normal

No please no motivation…remember how motivated they were when they played souffs in the first round? It was all about payback to Jai Arrow time… BIG FAIL!


Then again, perhaps if we get through this week, they can get them motivated by ensuring they take one of souffs best player out. If we had Manu, we would be close to Manly, so maybe if we get through Friday and then play souffs and if the game isn’t going our way, Robbo should have a player take one for the team and get rid of Cody Walker and or Reynolds. If I was Robbo I would be getting a fringe player to start preparing for a special mission for the preliminary final. If we don’t get through then that’s that, but if we do, then we are ready to spoil their party whichever way that is.

Geez I’m evil

[Yak]

This is a direct quote from Michael Robertson (head of MRC): “Some of the indicators we always look for are force to the head, risk of injury and whether the contact was direct.”

The worry for me is that somehow the people in charge don’t understand that all three of those things are directly related. The more direct the contact to the head is the greater the force to the head will be. The greater the force to the head the greater the risk of injury. All three are directly correlated yet these are the three things that they’re looking at separately??

The other issue that this highlights in my opinion is how the measures of “carelessness” used by the MRC panel are not actually related to the level of care taken by the player in question.

The actual amount of force in the collision may have nothing to do with how much care was taken. The Verrills tackle is the perfect example. Verrills has to set himself for a tackle around the ball and Kelly’s level drops too quickly for him to adjust. A lack of care in the tackle has not been the cause of the direct contact, amount of force and risk of injury. A lack of care would be evident if it was Verrills movements that caused the contact and amount of force, but it was clearly Kelly’s and for the most part out of the control of Verrills.

My point is that their judgements will be inherently flawed if they continue to look towards indicators that aren’t directly related to the level of care or recklessness in the tackle. It seems to me that while the people in these positions may be competent with the process involved they clearly are not expected to fully educate themselves (this is the NRL’s responsibility) around concepts related to physics and human processing. I know they are ex-footy players but if they are incapable of doing the job well then why are they in the job at all. It just seems to me like we’ve set too low a standard when it comes to some officials and decision-makers in the game.

[chopstiks]

This idea that ex players will be better judges in understanding the mechanics of a tackle to adjudicate fairly is out the window. Apparently before deliberating , these thick heads were given directions by the legal representative who is very experienced who’s name escapes me, YET these ex players still come up with a decision that the whole community, (with exception to jealous fans) do not see it that way. Either the legal rep is past his used by date that he did not advise them property or these ex players decide along club lines.

If most, if not all Journos can see how wrong this decision was, perhaps it’s best to give the decision to a collective of journos/commentators. Pick 10 journos/commentators in the game to make a decision. Out of the 10 then randomly select 5 and that will be the decision then the journos/commentators can explain it in the media why they arrived to such decision. It would be very transparent. It couldn’t get any worse!

The thing I dont get - amongst all of it really, starting with the 3 blokes who have no legal quals pretending to be real judges ? - is that you get punished for defending the punishment ! An extra week for his judiciary efforts is circus music stuff

[Team Evil]

No please no motivation…remember how motivated they were when they played souffs in the first round? It was all about payback to Jai Arrow time… BIG FAIL!


Then again, perhaps if we get through this week, they can get them motivated by ensuring they take one of souffs best player out. If we had Manu, we would be close to Manly, so maybe if we get through Friday and then play souffs and if the game isn’t going our way, Robbo should have a player take one for the team and get rid of Cody Walker and or Reynolds. If I was Robbo I would be getting a fringe player to start preparing for a special mission for the preliminary final. If we don’t get through then that’s that, but if we do, then we are ready to spoil their party whichever way that is.

Geez I’m evil

No I'm Evil