A fierce debate has erupted over the severity of Reed Mahoney and Jack Hetherington’s scuffle in the tunnel after both players were sin-binned on Sunday afternoon.
Both players were given their marching orders in the dying stages of the Bulldogs’ win over the Knights after referee Peter Gough has already warned captains about niggle in the contest.
Hetherington left the field first, but emerged from Newcastle’s changing rooms to confront Mahoney and shove him, leaving the Bulldogs hooker stunned.
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Hetherington accepted a one-game ban for contrary conduct for the incident, while Mahoney was also hit with the same charge and a $1000 fine for a moment leading up to his sin-binning.
Veteran rugby league reporter Phil Rothfield labelled the scenes in the tunnel a “minor incident” which sparked outrage from NRL360 co-host Paul Kent.
Kent: This sort of stuff where they all run in jumper-grabbing, I don’t think that covers anyone in glory, everyone just looks ridiculous doing it. At least you can appreciate a fight, this stuff is just stupid… Hetherington got grade two contrary conduct, he should have got more.
Rothfield: He had a smile on his face, it was a minor incident. I could have copped him getting two weeks, but it wasn’t a full on blue, there was no head butts.
Kent: He punched him.
Rothfield: It was a push and a shove, he shoved him, open palm shoved him.
Kent: So the two men there that grabbed him, they clearly thought, same as you, that there was nothing wrong with it. No they didn’t because they reacted.
Rothfield: If he wanted to go on with it those two men could not hold him, it was an open hand shove.
Kent: Well he’s got his fists closed when he’s standing there bouncing on his toes. So we don’t know, because we can’t see what the impact is.
Gorden Tallis: Buzz, it’s been happening for 100 years, what happens on the field most rugby league players and fans will cop out. Off the field, in the tunnel, no.
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Kent: Exactly, that’s out of line, he should have got more for that. It’s embarrassing Reed Mahoney got charged at all.
Rothfield then went on to label Mahoney a “niggle player”, explaining statistics show the Bulldogs hooker in the NRL’s most penalised player over the last two-and-a-half seasons.
However, Kent wasn’t buying it and the fiery argument erupted once again.
Kent: Irrelevant.
Rothfield: Why is that irrelevant? He’s an ill-disciplined player and he’s going to rile up players like him (Hetherington).
Kent: He’s allowed to wave players off, niggle is a part of the game, if you niggle someone off their game and get them sin-binned good on you.
Rothfield: He’s given away 48 penalties, the nearest to him are Cameron Munster and Harry Grant. You guys are bagging Hetherington for having a whack, he’s involved.
Braith Anasta: Why did he get charged?
Rothfield: For what happened on the football field, not what happened in the tunnel.
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Kent: This is what he gets a contrary conduct charge, look at it, that’s embarrassing. That’s a match review committee who don’t know what they are doing.
Rothfield: Maybe Kenty they are catching up with him… he is clearly the most penalised player in the competition.
Kent: It is embarrassing Mahoney got charged at all.
Rothfield: I’ve actually looked up the statistics and given you factual evidence, that he is clearly the most penalised player.
Kent: It is clearly irrelevant. How does it impact this decision?
Rothfield: Well the referee probably thought I’ve finally got him off.
Kent: He didn’t throw a punch, he did a little cheeky wave off, he did antagonise him, but that’s not a charge, it’s never been a charge in our game.
The argument then shifted in a different direction, with Hetherington’s one-game ban coming under the microscope.
Rothfield was of the opinion his suspension was fitting for his actions, but Kent couldn’t believe he didn’t earn a harsher penalty.
Hetherington won’t fight ban for scuffle | 00:22
Tallis: I love the way he plays and I’d love to play with him, but sort it out on the field.
Rothfield: You can’t sort it out on the field.
Kent: You can’t sort it out in the tunnel.. you’re trying to tell us this is okay?
Rothfield: You’re overreacting Kenty, look at the smile on his face. Yeah he shouldn’t have done it, but tell me what you want him to get?
Kent: I reckon he should have copped about three to four weeks… there’s a reason when they are sin-binned these days they sent one off wait till he’s cleared the field and send the other. It’s to avoid these situation. You know what happened? He was in the dressing room, saw Mahoney was coming and he came back out. That’s the problem.
Tallis: If they were both walking off the field and niggling, it’s okay. But to go and sit in the dressing room, no.
Rothfield: Do you really think if we was really serious about belting Reed Mahoney he would have gone like that and laughed?
Kent: What if Reed punched him back? Hetherington right, mad as a cut snake, I don’t think he’s scared of anyone in the game. But there’s a few others going off other than Reed Mahoney, if you put David Klemmer, Spencer Leniu, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves walking up there, it would have escalated into something that everyone would have looked at rugby league and gone, wow.
Source Agencies
