The Tackle: Watch NRL fan headbutt security guard during Wests Tigers-Broncos clash
Fan violence has marred Wests Tigers’ clash against Brisbane, with vision emerging of a spectator allegedly headbutting a security guard at Campbelltown Stadium. WATCH THE FOOTAGE
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Dean Ritchie is back with his likes and dislikes from round 8 of the NRL.
DISLIKES
FAN VIOLENCE
A security guard was allegedly headbutted during an ugly incident at Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday.
Fans filmed the commotion before Wests Tigers’ game against Brisbane when around 20 people came together in a wild melee.
A man in a black shirt is caught head butting a male security guard before he is taken to the ground.
The incident, near the northern hill area, drew gasps of disbelief from the crowd.
It appears the man was angry with a fellow fan at the ground and reacted violently when confronted by security.
Just another day at the league where a fan head butts security.
— The Animal (@WSWanimal) April 27, 2024
Barely any security/police presence when compared to an A-league match.#Nrltigersbroncos@NRLonNine@FOXNRL@7NewsSydneypic.twitter.com/474oawwiIK
Campbelltown Stadium management is expected to view footage of the incident before considering any action.
A woman is heard to scream: “What the hell.”
A policeman was present at the time of the assault and another officer arrived moments later.
The person that posted the video on X wrote: “Just another day at the league where a fan head butts security.
“Barely any security/police presence compared to an A-League match.”
ERADICATING THE BUNKER
Parramatta is entitled to feel aggrieved about a decisive moment in the match against Manly which match officials failed to see.
Eels centre Will Penisini was penalised and sin-binned for tackling Manly’s Tom Trbojevic without the ball.
The incident came after Trbojevic chased a Luke Brooks kick down field. Replays show Trbojevic was in front of Brooks when he kicked the ball.
It was tight but Turbo was definitely off-side. You could call it nitpicking but that’s what the bunker loves doing.
Reuben Garrick kicked a penalty goal to extend Manly’s lead to six points.
The Eels wilted late due to fatigue through Penisini’s absence and the boneheaded play of the year from Maika Sivo, who was also sin-binned for pushing his elbow into the face of Garrick.
Parramatta lost the second half penalty count by 8-0.
KNIGHTS COACH SAYS NON-EVENT
Knights coach Adam O’Brien took issue with my story last week about a training flare-up between Jackson Hastings and Will Pryce.
A blow up at training among teammates is always newsworthy.
Funny how coaches think it’s a story when it involves another team but it’s suddenly a non-event when it involves their own players.
“That was a non-event, really,” O’Brien said. “It would happen in every organisation that trains with any form of intensity, every day of the week.
“There were no punches, it was a push-and-shove. The training drill kept going so half the group didn’t even see it. It’s a slow news week if we’re writing about that.”
O’Brien’s players certainly felt it newsworthy because they raced to tell their managers about the drama, who then told me.
DENYING TRIES BY MILLIMETRES
Does rugby league deny too many tries through forensic analysis?
Warriors centre Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was refused a crucial try from a kick against Gold Coast after a knock-on from dummy half Wayde Egan.
It all looked fine during play but slow-motion replays showed Egan bobbled the ball ever, ever so slightly.
A million of those will be missed over a season but Tuivasa-Sheck’s try was disallowed.
Egan threw his head back in frustration when the try was rejected by the bunker.
They say rugby league is a game of inches – this was millimetres.
Guess we can’t bag refs when they get it right albeit Warriors fans must have felt agitated at such a minuscule knock-on blocking their side a try.
MILNE SHOULD’VE BEEN BANNED FOR SIX
Rabbitohs winger Taane Milne copped a two-match suspension for diving at the legs of Storm star Cameron Munster last Thursday.
He should have copped six games. It was a low dog shot that could easily have broken Munster’s leg.
That’s not what our game is about.
Fox League commentator Michael Ennis labelled the tackle as “viciously dangerous” and “completely unnecessary” while broadcast colleague Cooper Cronk said it was a “terrible, terrible effort.”
On Channel 9’s post-match coverage, NRL legend Johnathan Thurston called for the NRL to “come down hard” on Milne.
“We don’t need this in the game. This is truly and purely trying to hurt players,” he said.
TIME TO SACK DEMETRIOU
It’s time for the band aid to be ripped off at Souths.
Head coach Jason Demetriou is a bloody good fella but he can’t rescue himself or his team from this current predicament.
Aside from the results, which have been disastrous, including a 54-20 loss to Melbourne on Thursday night, he looks a beaten man.
It would seem impossible for Demetriou to somehow muster something to somehow drag his side from this ongoing nightmare.
A change at the top seems the only way out at Redfern.
Demetriou is desperately trying to stay upbeat – at least publicly anyway – but the pressure, media scrutiny and last-placed position for his side are clearly taking a personal and professional toll.
No-one wants to see a coach lose his job, and livelihood, but a split between club and coach seems the only way out for Souths.
I’m not sure prolonging the inevitable is really helping either party. And it only gets harder with Souths to play Penrith at Accor Stadium this Thursday night.
“I don’t think Jason Demetriou is the man to get them out of this hole,” said Fox League’s Greg Alexander. “It’s almost impossible.”
Souths have leaked 250 points in seven games this year – an average of nearly 36 points per match.
Asked post-game about his future, Demetriou said: “I’ve got no idea. That’s what I’ll turn up to do. Like I’ve said before, I love coaching this club, I love coaching this team.”
It’s tough watching his demise.
KICK-OFFS STILL AN ISSUE
I wrote in this column a month ago that the NRL will inevitably consider banning the long kick-off due to concussions concerns.
Well, didn’t I get howled down by mainstream and social media.
Strangely, it all went quiet after 10 seconds in the Dragons-Roosters game when St George Illawarra centre Moses Suli was knocked senseless by a rampaging Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, who took the first carry of the game.
I’m old-school and love heavy collisions but the game is either serious about concussion, or it’s not.
Even some of my detractors must be wavering after seeing Suli lying there unable to get up.
Post-game, Roosters coach Trent Robinson said: “I think we can see that we’re getting to the point where it needs to shift. I think they tried to do it through the short kick-offs, but it’s not enough.”
And Dragons coach Shane Flanagan added: “I don’t know the answer, but we see it too often. It was a terrible way to start a game. When it happens to one of your players, it’s not nice to see.
“I don’t know how we stop it, unless we start with a play-the-ball, and that’s not something I’d like to see. In the modern game, we can’t have these concussions. We need to look after the players.”
Under the NRL’s mandatory 11-day stand down policy, Suli will miss Saint’s local derby against Cronulla this Sunday.
LIKES
I have a plan to eradicate the wretched bunker from intruding into our lives so constantly each winter.
Let’s be honest, we’ve all had enough.
Wests Tigers hooker Api Koroisau scored a try from dummy half at Campbelltown. Everyone thought it was a try until the interfering bunker stepped in again to ruin our Saturday night.
Bunker review official Peter Gough went over it, scrutinised, replayed and slowed it down until he found a reason to deny, deny, deny.
Rather than just condemn, how about I propose an idea? What about the bunker isn’t permitted to butt-in unless a team challenges a decision for a try?
If a side is certain their opponents haven’t scored, then challenge it.
Each team gets one wrong challenge per half.
If they burn their challenge, a team can still challenge one more time in the game but if the try stands then that side loses an interchange player. It’s all on the players, like cricketers with DRS.
Let’s only have the bunker enter our lives through a player challenge.
The separation between Koroisau’s hand and the ball was absolutely minuscule, if anything, and he maintained control of the ball until the put-down.
“That’s crazy,” said Fox League’s Michael Ennis. “Watch it at full speed – he’s got control of the ball. If it does start to move in his hand, he still presses the football down on the line.”
Cooper Cronk: “There is separation but he gets it back on before planting it down. I think that’s a try.”
Mal Meninga: “They should do it in real time to get a better gauge. There was pressure down. It should have been a try.”
Darryl Brohman said: “It’s a try. If it’s not, change the rule.”
The try and subsequent goal would have cut Brisbane’s lead to just four points.
NRL GREAT’S CHEEKY ALIAS
Former Sharks premiership-winning front-rower Andrew Fifita made a shock switch to rugby union on Saturday.
The Tackle was sent a photo of Fifita running out for Colleagues fourth grade at Woollahra Oval number 2 in the NSW suburban rugby union competition.
We were initially told it was David, Andrew’s twin, before our spies stepped forward and insisted it was Andrew, who is also playing for Woy Woy Roosters this season.
A little further digging took us to Colleagues’ official team sheet where a Rhys Semanaia was named in jumper 16 with player 17 being cheekily listed as Rhys’ Mate Andrew.
Andrew later posted a photo of himself post-game.
Despite performing in front of 80,000 crowds for Cronulla and NSW, Fifita played before around 40 loyal souls on Saturday.
Fifita’s appearance for Colleagues reminds The Tackle of Manly’s John Hopoate playing fifth rugby union for Parramatta Two Blues in 2003.
He initially denied it was him.
And then there was Parramatta’s Junior Paulo playing for Oatley rugby union third grade in 2016.
Paulo wore headgear to help hide his identity and signed the team sheet under a false name.
Fifita’s Colleagues beat Blue Mountain 18-10.
CONGRATS STICKY
Ricky Stuart celebrated his 500th game as an NRL coach on Sunday.
Rather than wax lyrical about a bloke I have known for 35 years, I thought I’d list the words that best describe him.
Passionate, generous, funny, cranky, abrupt, caring, emotional, respected, loathed, loathed and a winner.
Congrats, Sticky.
SOUTH SYDNEY’S NEW FULLBACK
He wants to be the centre-of-attention so perhaps it’s ironic that Latrell Mitchell may now be chosen in the centre.
Jai Gray weighs just 78 kgs and stands only 170cms but he ran for 188 metres against Melbourne in a well beaten side.
They are match numbers Mitchell hasn’t achieved all season.
Mitchell returns from a three-game suspension against the Dragons in round 10.
The days of Mitchell having influence and power at Souths appear long gone.
FLANNO IS MEDIA GOLD
We in the media hear the same cliches when interviewing players and coaches each week.
I can practically tell you the answer before most questions have been asked.
That’s why Shane Flanagan is refreshingly honest. He doesn’t engage in coach-speak, he talks openly and freely. His quotes are different.
Asked about St George Illawarra’s game against his former club, Cronulla, Flanagan spoke was raw and to-the-point.
“That’s been marked in the calendar for a while,” he said. “I won a comp there. I don’t think they’ve won one since, have they.
“It’s not about me. I don’t care about me, and I don’t want it to be about me. I want it to be about the team and the club.”
From a journo’s point of view, Flanagan is gold.
WARRIORS STUN THE JUNIORS
New Zealand became the first team in Harold Matthews Cup history to win the competition in the club’s debut season.
The Warriors defeated Wests Magpies 34-16 in the under-17s grand final at Parramatta on Saturday.
New Zealand’s youngsters didn’t win a game until round four before storming through the remainder of competition to claim the title.
It certainly gives New Zealand an emerging crop of talented players should the NRL expand to Christchurch.
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Originally published as The Tackle: Watch NRL fan headbutt security guard during Wests Tigers-Broncos clash
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