NRL 2022 Grand Final Discussion

[Sproj]

Gillett suffered a fractured neck from a tackle that applied pressure to the head/neck. Players have come close to having their careers cut short as a result of them. I don't think Matterson can complain too much about being charged and suspended for it.

Notice how slow it has to be replayed to look remotely bad? You see that kind of tackle a hundred times a game. I have no problem with it being penalised under the current climate but that is not worthy of a $4000 fine or multiple week suspension. Contact is incidental and definitely not prolonged along with, as Matterson said, Edwards contributing to it.

I know you like to be a contrarian but do it on hills worth fighting over man.

 

[BroncsFan]

Ryan Matterson has chosen to take a 3 match ban instead a $4k fine for his grapple tackle in the GF

he says:

“I just feel $4000 is pretty hefty considering I have already paid nearly $4000 in fines already this year for things that are absurd,” Matterson said.

“At the end of the day I’ve got personal things to worry about outside of rugby league. I just didn’t think it was warranted …

“If you do something wrong at work, they don’t take money off you.
“At the end of the day, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m playing rugby league, it’s just getting quicker and quicker and people are getting stronger and stronger – and the game keeps changing rules.

“The fines need to go.”

Matterson said he was shocked that he received a ban when Panthers playmaker Jarome Luai escaped sanction after appearing to strike out at an Eels player with his foot.

“It didn’t make sense to me,” Matterson said.
“At the time I thought it was definitely a penalty, but I didn’t think it would go much further than that.

“It makes you think ‘Where is this game heading?’ ”

Matterson said he was stunned that any sanction above an on-field penalty was warranted.

“To be honest, the way Dylan backed in towards me and kept driving his legs, I tried to get his head out,” Matterson said.

“He just kept backpedalling – I’m not going to let him backpedal 100 metres. So I had to stop him. There wasn’t much in it. It was the typical look of a crusher tackle, but there was no pressure involved.

“I was very shocked they said four weeks [if Matterson had gone to the judiciary and be found guilty]. I guess that’s what they are cracking down on.

“To be honest, four weeks for that incident itself is blown way out of [proportion].

“You’ve got to have more consistency. There’s a lot of things that are getting swept under the carpet.”

Didnt miss them haha

He plays for a golden child team so will probably be zero ramifications and instead theyll take it out on Flegler.

 

[Culhwch]

Yeah, I'm not sure what else Matterson could do with Edwards driving backwards like that. There's a moment where it looks like Matterson is looking to get leverage to maybe pull him back up and twist him around and over, and that's when Edwards drops, pulling Matterson down with him. The other Parra players didn't much help with that.

 

[Super Freak]

How much responsibility falls on the bloke backpeddling into the tackle though?
He KNOWS that putting himself in this position will achieve one of two outcomes.
1 - he makes a ton of ground.
2 - he milks a crusher penalty.

Players are going to fight for ground, it's just part of the game. Matterson also doesn't need to drop his body onto the back of the head/neck like that. He knows it's dangerous and will result in sanction. It could have been avoided. Every week there are tackles where the attacking player has backed into the defenders and is fighting for ground, but the defenders still find a way to bring them down without applying pressure to the head/neck. While Edwards contributes, the onus is still on the defenders to ensure the player they're tackling doesn't end up in a dangerous position. The emphasis clubs put on wrestling and winning the tackle is why we end up with these types of tackles. It's up to the NRL clubs to teach techniques on how to avoid them.

The potential for serious injury is there and the MRC are right to charge and suspend players for them.

 

[Sproj]

Players are going to fight for ground, it's just part of the game. Matterson also doesn't need to drop his body onto the back of the head/neck like that. He knows it's dangerous and will result in sanction. It could have been avoided. Every week there are tackles where the attacking player has backed into the defenders and is fighting for ground, but the defenders still find a way to bring them down without applying pressure to the head/neck. While Edwards contributes, the onus is still on the defenders to ensure the player they're tackling doesn't end up in a dangerous position. The emphasis clubs put on wrestling and winning the tackle is why we end up with these types of tackles. It's up to the NRL clubs to teach techniques on how to avoid them.

The potential for serious injury is there and the MRC are right to charge and suspend players for them.

What a load of rubbish. If you are going to penalise that tackle, you would be penalising every second tackle a player ends up on his back. Secondly, if you are going to hand out suspensions for 3-4 weeks for that and be consistent, you aren’t going to have a competition because every single forward will be out for multiple weeks at a time.

This rule was bought in to stop actual crusher tackles, you know the DELIBERATE putting pressure on another player’s neck. What Matterson did is clumsy at worst and even that I’d debate. He certainly didn’t deliberately apply pressure. As soon as the neck even got stuck, for a literal split second, he immediately released pressure as he realises it is an awkward tackle.

So now players can’t put a player to the ground who is backing into the defensive line, they can’t tackle around the legs because that could result in a cannonball (which is right by the way) and players can’t tackle around the shoulders and can’t tackle too hard because of these get penalised.

I didn’t watch any finals but I bet you you wouldn’t have to look too hard to find probably a dozen or more of similar tackles where players are backing into the defense across the finals series that are basically the same as that Matterson one and went unpunished.

And guess what, every single tackle has the potential to cause injury so should the MRC crack down on every single tackle ever? Goodness me, a player stepping has the potential to injure a defender, should any player who steps be cracked down on?

 

[Wolfie]

How much responsibility falls on the bloke backpeddling into the tackle though?
He KNOWS that putting himself in this position will achieve one of two outcomes.
1 - he makes a ton of ground.
2 - he milks a crusher penalty.

Players are doing it deliberately now. I dont know how they fix it up apart from stop players backing into other players in the manner Edwards did. Matterson has hit the nail on the head, whats he supposed to do, just let him keep making ground? He also hit the nail on the head about Luai and his kick at a Parra player on the ground.

Its kind of hard to argue he doesnt deserve the ban at the same time. They player ends up in a bad position. I'd actually compare it to somebody like Tedesco who has made it an art form to fall into tackles to get penalties for head high shots.

 

[Foordy]

FYI, Matterson was actually only charged with a grade one offence.

the reason his penalty has been elevated is that it's his 3rd charge of the season

 

[Kimlo]

Ryan Matterson has chosen to take a 3 match ban instead a $4k fine for his grapple tackle in the GF

he says:

“I just feel $4000 is pretty hefty considering I have already paid nearly $4000 in fines already this year for things that are absurd,” Matterson said.

“At the end of the day I’ve got personal things to worry about outside of rugby league. I just didn’t think it was warranted …

“If you do something wrong at work, they don’t take money off you.
“At the end of the day, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m playing rugby league, it’s just getting quicker and quicker and people are getting stronger and stronger – and the game keeps changing rules.

“The fines need to go.”

Matterson said he was shocked that he received a ban when Panthers playmaker Jarome Luai escaped sanction after appearing to strike out at an Eels player with his foot.

“It didn’t make sense to me,” Matterson said.
“At the time I thought it was definitely a penalty, but I didn’t think it would go much further than that.

“It makes you think ‘Where is this game heading?’ ”

Matterson said he was stunned that any sanction above an on-field penalty was warranted.

“To be honest, the way Dylan backed in towards me and kept driving his legs, I tried to get his head out,” Matterson said.

“He just kept backpedalling – I’m not going to let him backpedal 100 metres. So I had to stop him. There wasn’t much in it. It was the typical look of a crusher tackle, but there was no pressure involved.

“I was very shocked they said four weeks [if Matterson had gone to the judiciary and be found guilty]. I guess that’s what they are cracking down on.

“To be honest, four weeks for that incident itself is blown way out of [proportion].

“You’ve got to have more consistency. There’s a lot of things that are getting swept under the carpet.”

**** yes Matto, I wish more players spoke out.

Totally agree on the fine thing, it's a joke for 2 reasons,

1 ) getting fined for doing your job sucks
1 ) $4k fine to a minimum wager is huge but it's pocket money for someone like Cleary.

 

[LittleDavey]

Fines should be a % of your game earnings - which is annual salary for that year, divided by number of rounds. Fair and equitable, no?

 

[Foordy]

Fines should be a % of your game earnings - which is annual salary for that year, divided by number of rounds. Fair and equitable, no?

Two words that haven't appeared in the NRL's dictionary in a very long time

 

[Sproj]

Two words that haven't appeared in the NRL's dictionary in a very long time

Some would have you believe otherwise...of course most people aren't that stupid.

 

[Super Freak]

Yeah, I'm not sure what else Matterson could do with Edwards driving backwards like that. There's a moment where it looks like Matterson is looking to get leverage to maybe pull him back up and twist him around and over, and that's when Edwards drops, pulling Matterson down with him. The other Parra players didn't much help with that.

He's holding Edwards up. All he had to do was let him go and gravity does the rest. Then he just flops or puts a hand on him and the tackle is completed. Or he sacrifices a few extra metres to bring him down slowly to minimize the pressure he's putting on the head/neck. Or he adjusts the position of his body so his body weight isn't coming down on the back of the head/neck of Edwards.

He had several options available to him. It's his responsibility to do either of those things. He can't really complain about being charged and suspended when players have been getting charged and suspended for those tackles for years.

 

[scobie]

He's holding Edwards up. All he had to do was let him go and gravity does the rest. Then he just flops or puts a hand on him and the tackle is completed. Or he sacrifices a few extra metres to bring him down slowly to minimize the pressure he's putting on the head/neck. Or he adjusts the position of his body so his body weight isn't coming down on the back of the head/neck of Edwards.

He had several options available to him. It's his responsibility to do either of those things. He can't really complain about being charged and suspended when players have been getting charged and suspended for those tackles for years.

100% this. The idea that there was nothing else he could have done doesn't stack up at all. Like Super Freak said, Matterson is literally holding his weight up as he backs into him. Just let him go. Or we hear all this talk about wrestle in the game now. Why not roll him so Edwards ends up on his front. Loads of different ways that situation could have ended up.

 

[Organix]

What a load of rubbish. If you are going to penalise that tackle, you would be penalising every second tackle a player ends up on his back. Secondly, if you are going to hand out suspensions for 3-4 weeks for that and be consistent, you aren’t going to have a competition because every single forward will be out for multiple weeks at a time.

This rule was bought in to stop actual crusher tackles, you know the DELIBERATE putting pressure on another player’s neck. What Matterson did is clumsy at worst and even that I’d debate. He certainly didn’t deliberately apply pressure. As soon as the neck even got stuck, for a literal split second, he immediately released pressure as he realises it is an awkward tackle.

So now players can’t put a player to the ground who is backing into the defensive line, they can’t tackle around the legs because that could result in a cannonball (which is right by the way) and players can’t tackle around the shoulders and can’t tackle too hard because of these get penalised.

I didn’t watch any finals but I bet you you wouldn’t have to look too hard to find probably a dozen or more of similar tackles where players are backing into the defense across the finals series that are basically the same as that Matterson one and went unpunished.

And guess what, every single tackle has the potential to cause injury so should the MRC crack down on every single tackle ever? Goodness me, a player stepping has the potential to injure a defender, should any player who steps be cracked down on?

Which is why actual legs/cutting tackles need to be rewarded with allowing some time for the marker
to stand and the line to reset (dominant tackle) and not be penalised by allowing the tackled player to stand immediately and play the ball. We have eliminated good, safer tackling techniques from the game by rewarding techniques that slow the ruck.

 

[ParraMania]

Commiserations @ParraMania. I know we won't see you again until the Broncos lose a game, but man it sucks to lose that way.

Thanks Holdzy

I didn't watch it - Once Klein got the gig I knew it was going to be too painful.

I frequent all the NRL fan forums but this one gives me the greatest laughs in your post match reviews so I will be back don't worry about that!