You can always expect the NRL judiciary to add to the drama around the time of a test against the Kiwis or the Grand Final.
All you can ask of any judiciary is that they are consistent. And that is undeniably the case with the NRL judiciary.
Come Anzac test time, you can set your clock by the fact at least one of the Kiwis top team will get a week or two off for some trivial matter. Come in Isaac Luke!
On the other hand, you can equally expect the same people to turn themselves inside out to justify NOT “robbing the game” of a high profile Aussie. Think none other than Jarryd Hayne.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph has tried to provide a for and against analysis on the issue.
The case against Hayne being let off is reasonably straight forward:
The gravity of Hayne’s offence was recognised immediately by the match officials. A possible eight-point try is not a parking ticket. It’s more like a rap for negligent driving.
Hell, Isaac Luke wasn’t even penalised!
There’s also a big difference between carelessness and reckless indifference. Put all the bromances to one side and history will show Hayne couldn’t cover his line in time to prevent the try and his late note was a very sour one for rugby league.
Bryce Gibbs, Tim Sheens, Cameron Smith, Kevin Moore, Goodwin and legions of Tigers and Dogs fans are fully entitled to question why foul play should be so handsomely rewarded.
Clearly there is one rule for some and another for the rest.
The case “for” Hayne is laughable and has nothing to do with what happened but everything to do with who did it.
[The clampdown on dangerous contact with legs or feet is] a justified call from the game’s suits, yet there was sufficient concern over the weekend that the vagaries of the judiciary system might rob the Grand Final of the best thing the game has going for it right now. Luckily, it has not, because Hayne is in form rarely witnessed.
Who cares what the game is or who did it? The same criteria was NOT applied with Luke nor ironically with Cameron Smith (Queenslander playing for a Melbourne team). Funny that.
Still, it shows what we all know – the NRL judiciary is just another bunch of cheating Aussies.