Angry South Sydney boss Shane Richardson claims fans are sick and tired of Melbourne’s wrestling
Angry South Sydney boss Shane Richardson has come out swinging at the Melbourne Storm and their wrestling tactics, declaring it a blight on the modern game.
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Angry South Sydney boss Shane Richardson wants a fan poll to decide if ugly wrestling tactics should be booted out of the NRL after a war of words erupted with Melbourne Storm.
Richardson also said “incessant” booing happens at every Storm away game “because of the way they play”.
It comes after an extraordinary public stoush between Richardson and Melbourne chief executive Dave Donaghy following Sunday’s spiteful top four shootout in Gosford.
Donaghy has astonishingly labelled Richardson’s criticism of the Storm’s wrestling tactics “stupid”.
Donaghy also accused the veteran administrator of being played by “master puppeteer” Wayne Bennett to “deflect attention” away from the Rabbitohs’ recent form.
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But Richardson fired back: “It has nothing to do with Wayne Bennett. I’d like to think after twenty f---ing seven years at the top of rugby league, I’d like to think I’ve got my own opinions.
“I don’t want a game that is played that way and we’ve got to change it.
“It is not personal.
“I like Frank (Ponissi, Melbourne head of football) and Dave, but that is not to say I agree with them.
“What I am saying is the game has let this happen and (Melbourne) are the masters of it. And the fans don’t want it.
“Get a poll done on whether the fans like wrestling and the grapple and slowing the game down.
“No one is going to vote for that.”
Souths were also “angry” giant prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona wasn’t charged for a dangerous crusher tackle on Dean Britt, while several Storm forwards also escaped sanction for running with their elbows raised.
The Storm’s wrestle tactics also came under fire after giving away eight straight penalties without so much as an official on-field warning from match officials.
Richardson said the Rabbitohs had intentionally not raised their concerns until the match review process was complete out of respect of the process, but were “shock and stunned” no charges were laid.
“We as a club were angry,” Richardson said.
“You have a 6 foot five 120kg guy (Asofa-Solomona) hit a halfback (Cody Walker) who is five foot 10 and 83kg with an elbow and he retaliated because it f---ing hurt him, and he (Walker) gets penalised?
“The bottom line is it is not Souths or the Roosters or whoever (who complains about the Storm’s tactics). It is the fans. … the incessant booing, it doesn’t just happen at Souths matches. It happens every time Melbourne Storm play because of the way they play.
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“To be fair good on them. The game has allowed wrestling to become a dominant part of the game and they are the best at it by a mile.
“But that doesn’t make it right.
“We talk in this day and age about head injuries … and then we are allowing the grapple and the wrestle to become the dominant part of our game.
“I would like to know where at under 7s and under 10s training and where we are trying to encourage people to come to the game, I’d like to know where we start with the wrestling coach in under 7s and 10s.
“Do we get them in jujitsu classes at those ages now?”
Richardson said the Rabbitohs do not employ a wrestling coach but conceded assistant coaches Jason Demetriou and Willie Peters do coach it because they have to.
“My point is fans don’t want the tackle slowed down, they want to see attacking football,” he said.
Donaghy maintains the fallout is just another annual bash-up from anti-Storm protesters.
“I don’t think Shane believes anything he’s said, there’s a master puppeteer (Bennett) in the background, and when your team’s a bit down you’re looking to deflect attention,” Donaghy said.
“Shane’s been around the game for a long time and I’ve got enormous respect for him but he probably should have just had a cup of tea and a lie down mid-afternoon before saying comments as stupid as those.
“The reality is that we play within the spirit of the game and within the rules and we’ve checked with the NRL the last 48 hours to ensure if there’s any challenges around that they’d let us know and they’ve assured us that there aren’t.”
Originally published as Angry South Sydney boss Shane Richardson claims fans are sick and tired of Melbourne’s wrestling