Cam Smith

[Kaz]

The tackle.



Nothing wrong with it, until Alex ducked his head.

The judiciary IMO overreacted because of the injury.

I think 60 mins could have waited to show the interview for a few weeks, seeing as what happened to James Ackerman.

 

[Kaz]

Ok, say you trip down some stairs and are heading face first into concrete and you cant use your arms.

What do you do? Do the scenario in your head, just quickly - what is your first instinct?

To swear before I hit the concrete.

 

[Super Freak]

To swear before I hit the concrete.

 

[Kaz]

Is Alex a hypocrite.

The year before his accident.

On the same player who 'hurt' him.



He high fived a teammate.

 

[Porthoz]

To swear before I hit the concrete.

So much this!

There was nothing in that tackle but a cascade of factors that contributed to that unfortunate outcome, one of the major factors was definitely Alex ducking his head, whether it was instinctive or not.
This has nothing to do with blaming the victim, but is instead just recognising the facts without the emotional load of the result.

As said already, players (especially captains) always dispute this type of situations on both sides of the fence, according to what's best for their team, which is exactly what Cam did. The facts haven't changed since then, so other than being conscientious with the sensitive subject, I don't see why anyone should change their opinion, much less when it's Alex himself that is having a go at you!

The timing of all this couldn't be more sus. NSW'kers upping the ante on the dirt tactics... and Alex doing their bidding by using his injury that way, is way worse than Cam's comments.

 

[mieko]

IMO, I think Alex was buggered either way, whether ducking his head in or keeping it straight/up. It was the angle that he came down on that was the main factor.

Ducking his head with the possibility of landing on his shoulders and rolling a over t as has happened in other tackles or keeping his head up and driving down on the forehead and hyper extending his head back. Again I think the angle was the major problem and had hardly a chance to come out of it without injury.

I feel real sorry for the bloke and the tacklers involved as I think it was pure accident, with the worst possible outcome.

will be interesting to see 60min tonight.

 

[Kaz]

It's starting to sound like he is about to take legal action. Or to sell his book. (which I won't be buying)

It's a shame that Channel 9 are showing this now, not long after the death of James Ackerman. (I think the interview was done weeks/months ago)

Shame Alex doesn't seem to have the same class as the James Ackerman family. (interview from them was on Thursday's Footy Show)

Interview goes for 13 & 1/2 mins.

Ackerman Family Story | Videos | NRL Footy Show | 9Jumpin

 

[Kimlo]

The Cam Smith part is coming up after the ad break, so switch to CH 9 now if you want to see it.

 

[Kaz]

Liz Hayes will win a Logie for best drama voice.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

What a load of shit. They act like it was the first time Alex had seen that footage, yet his parents were both saying how they can never forgive smith? What a load of crap!

Smith was doing what any good captain would do. Arguing for his team. I have no doubt if Smith knew then what he knows today he wouldve let it go, but he didnt, no-one did. Smith wasnt the only one saying Alex contributed to the severity of the tackle, but if you listen to Liz Hayes and the McKinnons, smith is the only one who ever thought that, and hes the devil. What a beatup. Lost a lot of respect for alex tonight

 

[Mr Fourex]

I think it's fucken disgusting that Smith is being shown like this on National TV.

Hating on Cam won't bring back your legs Alex.

 

[Super Freak]

I haven't seen the interview, did he mention he shares his thoughts in his book as well?

 

[Mr Fourex]

I didn't see them promoting the book....could be my oversight.

Surprised if he didn't.

 

[Porthoz]

What a load of shit. They act like it was the first time Alex had seen that footage, yet his parents were both saying how they can never forgive smith? What a load of crap!

Smith was doing what any good captain would do. Arguing for his team. I have no doubt if Smith knew then what he knows today he wouldve let it go, but he didnt, no-one did. Smith wasnt the only one saying Alex contributed to the severity of the tackle, but if you listen to Liz Hayes and the McKinnons, smith is the only one who ever thought that, and hes the devil. What a beatup. Lost a lot of respect for alex tonight

Did they ask Smith to comment?

 

[Kaz]

So everyone knows

Jordan McLean's actions in Alex McKinnon tackle were not 'significant' cause of injury, panel decides

Melbourne forward Jordan McLean had an additional four matches added to his suspension for the tackle that left Alex McKinnon with spinal damage because the NRL judiciary panel considered his actions were not a "significant" cause of the injury sustained by the Newcastle forward.

McLean was found guilty of a grade two dangerous throw, which carries a base penalty of 325 demerit points, but he received a seven match ban at Wednesday night's judiciary hearing after the panel deemed the 22-year-old should receive an additional 400 demerit points for the injury suffered by McKinnon.

The revelation that McLean's suspension was increased to take into account the injury has prompted criticism from some who believe that judiciary offences should be judged solely on their merit, but it is common for the match review committee to grade an offence higher if an opposition player was badly hurt.

In fact, Fairfax Media has learnt that McLean received only an extra four game ban for a tackle that resulted in McKinnon fracturing his C4 and C5 vertebrae and damaging his spinal cord because the judiciary panel of Mal Cochrane, Bob Lindner and Chris McKenna felt his role in causing the injury was "right down the very end of the scale".


http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...403-zqq9u.html

So who were they blaming for the injury, if the player who tackled him wasn't the 'significant' cause of the injury.

 

[Big Pete]

The problem with Smith was the timing of it all. It was obvious that McKinnon was in serious trouble and this wasn't your typical 'staying down to milk a penalty' injury you often see. Smith got his priorities wrong and made a mistake.

Just like 9 has made a mistake to demonise Smith a year later. There's always two sides to a story and it's clear that instead of trying to get all the facts, they wanted to sensationalise the situation to pop a rating.

I don't blame Alex or the McKinnon family for being bitter over Smith's actions. If I was in their position, I wouldn't be 'cool' with it either but I'd at least give him an opportunity to apologise and leave it on the footy field - which is one of the first things your taught on game day.

It's a shitty situation all-round.

 

[Nashy]

I feel bad for the bloke, but Smith isn't a doctor with x-ray vision. He wasn't to know how serious it was, for all we knew, in 2 minutes time, Alex was back up fir the penalty after milking.

What I find more disgusting, is drawing your attention on Cam Smith to sell your fucking book.

 

[Kaz]

The problem with Smith was the timing of it all. It was obvious that McKinnon was in serious trouble and this wasn't your typical 'staying down to milk a penalty' injury you often see. Smith got his priorities wrong and made a mistake.

Most of the players didn't realise the extent of the injury.

The incident occurred just before half-time in the AAMI Park clash, and Mason said it was tough for both sides to continue playing after hearing McKinnon's anguished cries.
"Probably at the time we didn't realise the full extent, but I was standing next to Alex and it was pretty horrifying the words that were coming out," Mason said.


Emotional Knights battling to cope

The viewers knew it was serious, because we watched it happen & saw everything.