Do the Aussies play a different game to us?

Hock - Punches thrown (Sent off, 2 game ban).
Tuson - Punches thrown (Sent off, 1 game ban).
Mossop - 1 punch thrown (1 game ban).
Micky Mac - 1 punch thrown (Sent off).

2nd minute of the Origin, punches thrown galore...the one thrown from Tate to the face of a QSL player who was lay on the floor, which was worse than ANY of the ones above thrown.

Origin always plays to slightly different rules which is why Paul Gallen was so vociferous in Melbourne against the ref who reffed it to the letter of the law rather than using his common sense. Ben Thaler did the same at Magic with the brawl.

Origin is always reffed much more leniently than any other game. It wouldn't be the spectacle it is if there wasn't a chance it could blow up at any point, this wouldn't happen if players were getting sent off.

We are trying to sanitise the game too much. Emotion is part of the game and a few punched puts numbs on seats. A few controlled flair ups do not harm the game in anyway and the sooner the refs and the rugby league recognise this the better in my opinion.

I was watching it and thinking if a little punch up happens tonight it will be more worthwhile to watch. However if anyone did it would ruin the match

Tate was punching a NSW player not QSL

The British game is becoming boringly sanitised.

It's a family sport. I don't want my kids exposed to that kind of violence, i've already written a letter of complaint to the NRL, QLDRL and NSWRL.

Its almost expected that at some stage during an origin match it will go off big time, origin wouldnt be origin without a bit of biff.

As to the RFL in this country, well the powers that be are succombing to the politcally correct brigade and are more concerned about silly gimmicks than the actual product on the pitch.

Jeez my 10 year old is never off you tube watching old origin fights and he plays RL but has never once copied anything like that at all.

The RFL need to get a grip !

Why is it unacceptable to have a bit of fisticuffs when both of the players are facing each other when compared to a high shot with a closed fist? The only publicity about millenium magic was the fight vs Stains and that was for the whole weekend. The match in September against our nearest and dearest rivals the build up in the media will include this.

My son will soon be able to play and the fact that a biff won't be putting me off him playing (lets afce it he will be doing that in play ground) it's the delibrate high shots that is what is giving me doubts about him playing the sport of Rugby League.

I really enjoyed the game, And the high intensity and odd bit of biff is what makes it so special.

a large portion of tackles in that match today would have been penalised in superleague. but it was tit for tat. and I thought it was good. Rather than taking a big hit and a bit of a dig and just standing there crying to the ref (i.e Elima) why not be given the chance to play on and get your own back in a "controlled" manner.

The punch from Tate was cheap and dirty , and considering Jennings was sin binned in the first game I was dissapointed nothing came of that. but other than that, like i said, it was tit for tat. some unbelievable hits and an awesome spectacle.

and heaven forbid we encourage the british game to become a 'spectacle' eh!

Haha, you couldn't have every game reffed the same way as SoO, as good as it was that one got a bit silly this morning with messing round at the PTB, laying on, high shots etc.

If automatic sendings off for fighting are going to become the norm (which they should if the RFL are to be consitent), then it is going to dilute the game IMO. Unless it's REALLY bad, which most aren't, then a yellow for the players involved should be sufficient.

The game was riddled with high tackles, grapple tackles, messing around on the floor and punches. It's simply unacceptable except when you have millions and millions of viewers in very proud states who would like nothing better than to knock each other out cold.

The refs knew the game was dirty, it'd be as boring as watching Widnes play if there wasn't any cheap nasty stuff going on.

All that said, it was a cracker.

I understand what you are saying and agree to certain extent but, if you have seen the local news lately some poor bloke was killed by one blow to the head from an idiot in the street, and though I’m with you that a punch up the bracket never really hurt anyone when it wasn’t meant to totally clean them out, still I wouldn’t like our game to ever be in the news for someone being up for killing someone during a game. It could happen, so it’s a fine balance on the punch-up question for me.





Rock 'n' Roll.

Well our game has been played since the late 1800s, and there have been literally thousands of fights over that time.

I have never heard of anyone being killed in all this time in a punch up.

Still 'it might take your eye out !'

Agree with earlier post, our game is becoming too sanitised, MM Saints game example. Origin had 2 refs but they just let the game flow, and it was a lot better spectacle for it.

We've all watched dull games where things are just plodding along and the crowd are numb. Then a fight kicks off. Crowd get on their feet and get noisy. Then forwards start putting big hits in for the next few minutes. Game on! Bring back the biff... just not cowardly shots from behind!

Tbh the thing that was unacceptable was the messing around on the floor. Pathetic facials were the norm rather than the exception..........

In terms of a standard brawl, I have always believe that the original offender should be punished and the retaliator should be let off. Completely.

The sin binning of "both" sides, that has become the norm within SL is, imo, entirely the wrong message to be sending out.

I've wondered for a couple of years why a thrown missed punch in SL often results in a sin binning, when a landed punch seemed to get away with a penalty. A little dust up is always a plus in the game I just ask for onsistency, if Micky Mac gets sent off for throwing a punch, then our game will be down to 10 a side at the end. SoO is special, big hard men v big hard men and mostly all aussies who need a head crack every so often to wake them up.

Totally disagree. Sin binning both sides is the correct call imo. You can't go around punching people and at the same time you shouldn't retaliate you should let the officials deal with it. That's what they're there for.

Fair enough. It's your opinion and I can't say it's wrong. For me though, it's the instigator who should receive the punishment.

I think he should get the stronger punishment yes. In the first Origin game for example, Jennings rightly went to the bin for running in (if you ref it to the laws) but the QLD prop (Hannant I think) should have gone as well for causing it all and NSW get the penalty.


I'm pretty sure though that retaliation used to always reverse the penalty??

Lovely turn of phrase !

There was an almost identical incident to the McIlorum one in the Hull v Salford game, yet O'Meley only got a yellow card for throwing a punch.