Brett White has not be charged by the NRL judiciary over a forearm to the head of Sharks prop Ben Ross on the weekend.
The media talked up the two players clashing all week, and as soon as Ross looked to be in trouble after the White charge, you knew the media would try and beat the incident up.
To me it looked like a normal hit up which forced Whites forearm upwards. As the tackle continued to be pushed to the ground the only place for that forearm to end up with in poor old Ben Ross’ face.
There has been talk of some off field tension between White and Ross. They were room mates while playing for the Dragons a few years ago, but considering that Ben Ross is pretty forthcoming with the media, I’d suggest if there were issues between the two they would be out in the open by now.
Anyway its all one big relief for the Storm who really didn’t need another week of drama at the judiciary leading into the Grand Final.
Their opponents in Manly look like they will field a full strength side.
Matt Orfords has been hobbling around, but has said he will be right to play (Is that a good or a bad thing for Manly?) and Steve Matai’s shoulder injury is right for the game too. Matai is a really important player for the Sea Eagles and his loss would have been huge.
The Bookmakers have the Sea Eagles as favorites for this game, but as always, both teams are claiming underdog status. Its a far cry from England where Leeds players have openly talked to the media about how they will defend their title.
The Poms just don’t get the whole thing about not giving the opposition motivation.
Tony Archer has been named as the referee in the Grand Final which has obviously pissed someone off who today registered the name on my forum of “TonyArcher sux”.
I think Archer has done alright in the games he has controlled in the finals, the controversies and bad calls have all been the result of either the video referee or the touch judges giving Archer bad info.
In a bit more Storm news, the clubs rant on the weekend about being victims of a conspiracy by the media and even the NRL in regards to Grapple Tackles has gone down like a chick with braces…..very badly!
Aside from the clubs $50,000 fine from the NRL (Which was justified in my opinion!), and legal threats by judiciary panel members who felt their integrity was being called into question, the mail is that Storm CEO Brian Waldron has really pissed off News Ltd and he will likely be given the punt as the clubs CEO some time in the near future.
Keep in mind News Ltd own 50% of the NRL, and they also own the Melbourne Storm.
Its a bit of a shame if you ask me. I think the game needs more people involved at management level who come from a different background (He formally ran an AFL club) and I think its good for the Storm to have someone in charge that really knows the Melbourne market.
Still, you can’t just go around throwing accusations like he and Craig Bellemy did on the weekend. Yeah you can be pissed off at a decision, you can be completely filthy at the treatment from the media, but you can’t throw mud at the NRL and the judiciary panel.
