ARL rejects Lyon's rep retirement request

[Foordy]

Sea Eagles star Jamie Lyon faces suspension from the NRL if he refuses to make himself available for representative fixtures in 2009.

The Australian Rugby League's (ARL) board has rejected Lyon's request to be made exempt from representative football.

An ARL spokesman says if Lyon is selected and refuses to play, he will be stood down from the corresponding NRL match.

The Manly five-eighth was overlooked for last year's State of Origin series after he told New South Wales coach Craig Bellamy he did not want to play.

The spokesman says Lyon does not meet the League's criteria to retire from rep football.

He says Lyon's request was rejected because he is only 27, he has not played 10 years in the NRL and he does not have any long-standing injury problems.

http://www.bigpondsport.com/Home08/News ... wsId=31501

I don't agree with the ARL here. if Lyon doesn't want to play ref footy, then i don't he should have to play. not that he will get selected for rep teams anyway, especially since the coaches and selectors are not going to want to pick a player that has publicly said he didn't want to play.

 

[Fozz]

Meanwhile Craig Bellamy the NSW coach doesn't like Manly. So he'll select him, Lyon won't play, Bellamy will get his real first choice and Womanly are short a player. Mwahahahaha.

 

[The Brizz]

Worst administration EVER! ARL/NRL/QRL = big fat joke.

 

[Kimlo]

If he doesn't want to play then he doesn't want to fking play it's as simple as that, he shouldn't be forced.

 

[Professor47]

yeh forced to play is garbage.

(Again - not that he would be selected anyway)
He's golden years in the centres are way, way behind him.

 

[Foordy]

yeh forced to play is garbage.

(Again - not that he would be selected anyway)
He's golden years in the centres are way, way behind him.

he cetainly hasn't been the same player since he walked away from Parramatta

 

[Hamm.0]

Bizarre article.

 

[Flutterby]

I can see the ARL's point - they want the best possible players playing rep footy, which should be the pinnacle of the game. However I also agree that if a player doesn't want to play, there is no point in forcing them.

 

[Steve]

I can see the ARL's point - they want the best possible players playing rep footy, which should be the pinnacle of the game. However I also agree that if a player doesn't want to play, there is no point in forcing them.

Spot on. Lyon refusing to play rep footy is a slap in the face for the game and the NRL must believe it somehow diminishes the standing of SoO and Test football. Mind you I think it would be insulting seeing someone in a rep jumper who didn't want to be wearing it.

 

[Professor47]

^
I agree with players refusing to play rep footy a bit of a slap in the face (when they are young and fit to play of course and have no real plausible reason) - which is the case.
Bottom line is though - I wouldnt give the jumper to someone who doesn't want it.

 

[Flutterby]

But Lyon could just open the floodgates, hypothetically if the ARL just go 'yeah OK, whatever' there is a possibility that a lot more players - possibly even the very best - will just be like 'i don't really wanna play rep footy' and then the quality of the rep matches takes a massive dive. Not saying it will happen but it could, so the ARL are just trying to make a stand to prevent that.

 

[Coxy]

Or worse. "I just wanna play Origin".

 

[Ari Gold]

Would it even be legal to force somebody to play a representative game if they didn't want to? Unless there is something written into registration contracts etc. that dictates that a player must be available, wouldn't the NRL just be violating the law and forcing somebody to do something they are under no obligation to do?

As for the possibility of some players possibly wishing to be made exempt from all representative football, forcing players to play isn't going to fix the fact that representative football is viewed as a waste of time. The NRL would be much better off trying to introduce initiatives that address the core issues of the game and promote the game for the better. Nobody wins from this kind of headline.

 

[Coxy]

The solution is, as I've said for ages, to have club and rep football separate. No more mid-week, mid-season rep games.

Whether that means suspending the competition for a month, or starting it early and finishing it early and playing all the rep stuff after, i don't know. But it must happen.

 

[mrslong]

But Lyon could just open the floodgates, hypothetically if the ARL just go 'yeah OK, whatever' there is a possibility that a lot more players - possibly even the very best - will just be like 'i don't really wanna play rep footy' and then the quality of the rep matches takes a massive dive. Not saying it will happen but it could, so the ARL are just trying to make a stand to prevent that.

Mmm totally, it could end up the same as the AFL's "state of origin" series did. No-one really wanted to play in case they got injured for their club matches.

Of course Jamie Lyon was useless and embarrassing to watch in his last Origin match, perhaps he is trying to save face that he'll end up like Anasta & Kimmorley brought in time and agin only to fail time and again? [icon_shru [icon_evillaugh

 

[Hamm.0]

LOLZ, you are all missing the point.

If Lyon makes himself unavailable for selection, that is 100% his right. The reasons why very few other players (who would actually make a rep team) would knock back selection is because selection in Rep teams is a mark for players to demand more $$$$.

Lyon doesn't want rep selection because he is a hack, who at best would only make the NSW side, which isn't much to aspire to facing a 4 series losing streak. Personally I don't see the big deal, he doesn't want to play he doesn't get selected, doesn't effect ARL in any way shape or form, it's not like he's a Lockyer or ...um....sorry can't think of a NSW equivalent....ok, so he's not a Lockyer or JT.