Fair cop - but I'm still a scapegoat, says Smith

[Kaz]

I think it will be settled out of court.

 

[Emma]

I seriously don't think if it came down to it that most of you wouldn't whinge if this were Locky and we were in the GF. Not in that position so you cannot say!

You don't know me, you don't know how I react to things, especially something as non-consequential to my life as football, so please don't say that I don't know how I would react. I think I know myself well enough to know how I would react and I could say with absolute certainty that if Lockyer, or any bronco, did anything that was deemed illegal by the NRL and got suspended for it, then I wouldn't have an issue. Would I be annoyed? Of course, but it would be with the player for doing something so stupid, not with the judiciary for simply finding them guilty.

 

[Hamm.0]

bianc is generalising Emma. She isn't addressing you, she's addressing the forum a whole. IMO, bianc is 110% correct.

This forum is very biased....and I guess being a Broncos forum, that bias is somewhat expected.

 

[Kaz]

is 110% correct.

ahhhhhhhhhh

That is a peev of mine.

How can anyone be 110% correct.

Only a small vent. Continue with this thread.

 

[Emma]

I know that Hammo, but as she said that we 'can't say how we would react' when I honestly know how I would react, I felt I would respond. I have never been the type of fan that is ridiculously biased towards my team in matters like this, and I don't like being considered that way, hence I said what I said.

Now, carry on.

 

[Hamm.0]

is 110% correct.

ahhhhhhhhhh

That is a peev of mine.

How can anyone be 110% correct.

Only a small vent. Continue with this thread.

120%?

 

[bianc]

I seriously don't think if it came down to it that most of you wouldn't whinge if this were Locky and we were in the GF. Not in that position so you cannot say!

You don't know me, you don't know how I react to things, especially something as non-consequential to my life as football, so please don't say that I don't know how I would react. I think I know myself well enough to know how I would react and I could say with absolute certainty that if Lockyer, or any bronco, did anything that was deemed illegal by the NRL and got suspended for it, then I wouldn't have an issue. Would I be annoyed? Of course, but it would be with the player for doing something so stupid, not with the judiciary for simply finding them guilty.

Do not see your name there in print Emma. I said 'most'.
Seen it all before from supporters which is natural. Take out the top player of a club especially for a GF and of course the fans are going to be upset when they see illegal tackles all year from other clubs. Or upset from supporters who want that particular team to win. In this case league followers who hate Manly. Storm haters will love it.

Me, well I do like the Storm but I feel more for a young bloke missing a GF and Manly having players out there who have done illegal tackles even in the finals still playing. Even if they were playing us I would still rather beat them with a full squad.

 

[mick]

bianc is generalising Emma. She isn't addressing you, she's addressing the forum a whole. IMO, bianc is 110% correct.

This forum is very biased....and I guess being a Broncos forum, that bias is somewhat expected.

[icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1.

Maybe, but when Hodges was outed for a third of the season, did you see MOST of the forum whinging about the judiciary? Or did you see most of the forum calling Hodges a wanker and saying expressly that it was a given?

 

[bianc]

Yeah but then most of the forum call Hodges a wanker most of the time anyhow regardless [icon_lol1.

 

[Kimlo]

Melbourne Storm lost the plot

THE Melbourne Storm have bitten the hand that feeds them in recent weeks. While most of Sydney's rugby league teams struggle for a sponsorship buck - and face the prospect of going to the wall in tough times - Melbourne are a well-resourced, well-funded football club.

The Storm exist in a one-team town with little public scrutiny and strong media support from the city's biggest-selling newspaper, The Herald Sun. They are very lucky indeed that their owners - News Limited (the publishers of this newspaper) - are their financial guardians.

This outfit has been set up as part of a legitimate effort by administrators to expand rugby league into foreign territories. It has been a questionable success, given that most Melbourne people still call the game rugby.

The Storm receive millions of dollars every year to prop them up - almost every dollar News Limited earns from the television rights deal is ploughed straight back into Melbourne. The Storm have a spanking new ground being built, dollars in the bank and little chance of going to the wall, no matter what the economic circumstances.

So do you think they are grateful? Quite the opposite.

In recent weeks, the spoilt kids of rugby league have behaved so badly that all but their most diehard fans now view them as a new enemy.

The coach, Craig Bellamy, has turned angrily on the media and the judiciary. He has, by all reasonable legal judgment, probably defamed the judiciary in the process.

The club's chief executive, Brian Waldron, has failed to discipline Bellamy. Instead, he offered the coach his support just before he embarked on a rant that was unjustified, petulant and wrong. Waldron had the chance of redemption this week. He has been urged very, very strongly by the NRL to make his coach apologise. While the judiciary starts legal proceedings, Waldron has pig-headedly refused to put his foot down.

The bumbling chief executive has told senior league figures that Bellamy should be allowed to say sorry when he is ready and when it won't upset his bunch of mollycoddled players.

The bloke who was suspended for the illegal grapple tackle, Cameron Smith, has been so hurt by recent events that Bellamy dares not upset him any more. What has been overlooked by the Melbourne mugs is that Smith performed an illegal tackle that could have broken his opponent's neck. Waldron, Bellamy and the players have all chosen to ignore that.

When they are on their Mad Monday celebrations next week, we can no doubt expect Bellamy to make a half-hearted public statement that Melbourne believe will stifle any legal action by the NRL judiciary.

Waldron and Bellamy have sold the line to their superiors that an apology before the big game could cost the team a Grand Final. What poppycock.

If 17 grown men can't cop their coach righting a wrong in the days before a Grand Final, they shouldn't play professional football. By Monday, it will be too late to save reputations. The damage has been done.

The Bellamy rant basically accused the NRL judiciary of being under undue influence from the media. He also implied that bookmakers knew of the judiciary decision before it was handed down. This is totally preposterous and damaging in the extreme to a judiciary that prides itself on independence and fairness.

The panel members and their boss, former District Court Judge Greg Woods, will hopefully proceed vigorously with legal action. News Limited should then insist any defamation payouts come out of Waldron's and Bellamy's own pockets.

In the meantime, many are wondering why such a previously calm and sensible bloke like Bellamy could turn into the monster he was last weekend. He might be a good coach, but really great coaches don't lose it like he did last week. This was the rant of a man apparently possessed and not in control of his sense of reason.

His boss, Waldron, obviously believes they are both bulletproof. "Wally" Waldron was a mediocre performer as boss of the hapless St Kilda AFL club during some of their least successful and most troubled times. He now turns up at NRL chief executive meetings with grandiose ideas and even grander views about his own ability. He is, in fact, an ordinary administrator who has had it all handed to him on a silver platter.

For all of this, Waldron has shown how ungrateful he is by thumbing his nose at all of those who have supported him.

Last year, non-Manly supporters at the Grand Final cheered loudly for Melbourne, even if they supported other Sydney sides. The Storm are, no doubt, a wonderful football team.

This year is different. Bellamy has made sure that Sydney is behind Manly, if only because the Sea Eagles have behaved with humility and good grace in 2008. Even if they end up holding the trophy aloft, it will be very difficult to applaud the Melbourne Storm any time soon.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 07,00.html

o.0

 

[Dexter]

That's as bad a rant as Bellamys. She has called him possessed, a mug, a monster, encouraged legal action and decided the outcome.

 

[Coxy]

it's chewbecca. What do you expect?

And lol. A broncos forum biased? My god, call the papers. Scandal.

 

[Nashy]

Lol, Cameron Smith isn't playing tomorrow.

That is all.

 

[pennywisealfie]

love how he got booed when they showed him on screen lol

 

[Kaz]

love how he got booed when they showed him on screen lol

He will say the NRL set the entire booing up.

Wonder if the bookies had odds on the booing. [icon_ee

 

[Hamm.0]

Why would he say that Kaz? He hasn't said anything conspiracy related...his coach has.

 

[Nashy]

40 - 0.

 

[Kimlo]

fourty, ZIP.

1/3.