Paul Kent: NRL being conned by its own judicial system

The NRL’s recent judicial changes have allowed players like Nelson Asofa-Solomona to con the same people who implemented the game’s new grading structure, PAUL KENT writes.

James Tamou.

The lunacy is not with the Melbourne Storm and their elbows at three paces but with the NRL and its flimsy administration.

Too often nowadays the game loses sight of the fact it is a sport first and supposedly entertainment second, unaware the other way around is a corruption.

By trying to be all things to all people it has lost sight of its true direction.

Among the recent judicial changes introduced for this season, by way of example, was a consideration that players would much rather be fined than suspended for their acts of foul play and so, that considered, the fine system was beefed up and suspensions reduced.

Representative games were also kept separate from club games, in terms of penalty, the first time that’s ever happened.

Shoulder charges and crusher tackles were downgraded and are now considered a fine, an admission from headquarters that two of the games most dangerous tackles - which have both been part of a substantial crackdown recently to be eliminated entirely from the game - are no longer punishable by suspension.

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Nelson Asofa-Solomona Picture NRL photos

It took the Rugby League Players Association to apply some sanity to it, something the NRL lost sight of some time ago in its bid to be popular.

“We believe the decision to move grade one shoulder charges and crusher tackles to a finable offence is a step backwards in decreasing instances of two of the most dangerous on-field discretions,” the RLPA said in a statement at the time.

“Both of these offences carry significant health and safety ramifications and the threshold for these offences requires closer attention.”

Not at the NRL, though, which tends to blow whichever direction the wind blows on any particular day.

The game does not know what it stands for anymore.

This recent experiment, that began with the judicial overhaul over the summer, should be doomed along with those who authored it.

Lost in the whole transaction is the fact suspensions are supposed to be a deterrent.

The game has minimised a penalty enough to actually make the infringement acceptable to commit.

James Tamou escaped a two-match ban thanks to his good character.

The game is forever in a state of contradiction.

Just last week James Tamou had his charge downgraded because, among his defence, the judiciary accepted character references that he was of good character.

Nobody disputed Tamou was anything but, but it went outside the very purpose of the system itself, one introduced to remove these kinds of grey areas from exactly those kinds of decisions given the judiciary’s long history of being accused of bias towards, and against, certain clubs.

Now a new precedent has been set. And at some point in some future hearing character will be raised and old accusations of bias will surely return.

Since 2015 Nelson Asofa-Solomona has never been charged with anything above a grade one for dangerous contact or any of his high tackles.

He has had 17 charges, yet just seven weeks of suspension. He pleaded guilty in 16 of them.

He has had five charges this season already, without suspension, despite pleading guilty for all five.

When he cracked two of Wayde Egan’s teeth earlier this year, landing heavily on his head with his forearm, he failed to be charged at all.

His ability to avoid a grade two, which constitutes suspension, suggests a very lucky man or one who knows exactly where the line is.

Yet it highlights the absurdity of the judicial process and the questionable understanding of those who run it.

The match review process had an overhaul over the summer after the NRL noticed a massive spike in grade one charges in 2021.

The system, rather than human incompetence, was blamed and so a review was done and prior form was cancelled and new penalties put in place, none of which addressed the actual problem, or the actual purpose of the judiciary, which is to be a deterrent against future actions.

The system was never broken - just those running it.

So now they might as well charge them all with grade ones and declare it a free-for-all.

And players like Asofa-Solomona will survive because under the system the judiciary can look only at the charge he is facing and is not allowed to take into account previous incidents or, given the repeat offending, what some might call character.

The same character test Tamou was granted a leniency for just a week earlier.

It is a populist system, designed to keep the game entertaining while, at the same time, eroding its integrity.

Originally published as Paul Kent: NRL being conned by its own judicial system