The Tom Humble / Barba incident Friday night

[anzac7]

Not sure how many of you caught that game, but there was one particular incident that just keeps sticking in my head. Just to make clear, I am not a fan of either team, I don't mind both teams too much so there is no reason for bias here from me.

In the first half, Humble looked certain to score and Barba took him out with an intentional hit kn Humble's head - Barba only had eyes for Humble, not the ball. Did anyone else notice this?

If Humble stayed down a bit longer it's surely a penalty, possibly more. It was actually a very big incident to overlook.

 

[Ari Gold]

If it is the incident that I am thinking of, Barba actually knocked the ball out of the way with his knee/hip. He beat Humble to the ball, as opposed to sliding and using a lower limb to knock it out of his hands. As long as he gets the ball first I don't see what the big deal is.

 

[anzac7]

Actually, he led with the elbow/shoulder and connected with the head and didn't even touch the ball in the one I'm thinking of. I will track down the exact time.

 

[Big Pete]

I remember thinking it was sus at the time but on replay it appeared as if Barba made it look as if he was playing for the ball.

Does open a can of worms if it's worse than I remember though.

 

[anzac7]

Just watched it again.. he just smashed him. Watched it from both angles in slow motion. The first real time looks ok, but watch the two slow motions. He doesn't even touch the ball.

At this link:

http://www.nrl.com/Video/tabid/10959/Default.aspx

(have to let it load a while before trying to skip there. It's between 20-21 minutes on the actual video timer (at 16-17 minutes in game time))

EDIT: lol .. Barba knows what he did.. look at his demeanour following the incident.. haha!

 

[Ari Gold]

He does touch the ball though. it hits his right knee and it dribbles across the ground.

Watch the reply after Gus tries to spontaneous (he has like 3 shots at it) and you can see the ball hit his knee. His left shoulder did lower though, though whether that's because of the position he was in or something more malicious is hard to say.

 

[anzac7]

lol ... whether his knee touched the ball or not, he took him out and too him out with a high shot. That's like saying it's ok to smash someone in the head with a should or elbow while keeping a direction that was not intended to get the ball but because in the process you touched the ball with your foot/knee (whatever) - then it's ok.

 

[anzac7]

Got a few screen shots here - the actual live replay is worse in my opinion because you can see the course he is taking etc. He (Barba) knew... look at him afterwards.. lol..






These files are all small and the quality isn't good as I captured from the online video - but can see what I mean.

 

[Jeba]

Nothing incident.

 

[anzac7]

I think if he stays down longer it's a sure penalty, no problem - probably on report, maybe sin bin but short of a penalty try actually.

Just sad that our game is getting to a stage where they have to stay down for this type of thing...

 

[Ari Gold]

You seem to be under the impression that Barba's intention was to take Humble out. My observation is that Barba tried to put himself between Humble and the ball so Humble couldn't score. The two aren't the same thing. Barba successfully put himself between the ball and Humble and then touched the ball. As far as I'm concerned he didn't set out to make contact with Humble directly -- rather, he set out to put himself in a position where if Humble continued on then Humble's momentum would move him into Barba. As long as Barba touches the ball whilst doing so, he shouldn't be penalized for taking a player out, so I have no problems with it.

 

[Coxy]

What Ari said. he was trying to get between Humble and the ball. In the process, there was a collision. It's a collision sport. Nothing in it.

If Humble isn't diving for the ball there's no head contact.

 

[Alec]

Suspend him on the charge of being a Bulldogs player.

 

[Professor47]

All good. You can't let that be a penalty. I pray our game never goes there.

 

[Professor47]

The greatest attraction about RL is that it is such a unique collision sport and accidents are bound to happen. The game has CLEANED up - if incidents like this become penalties we're in trouble.