Ivan Cleary blows kisses while NRL takes backwards step in decency
For six weeks the NRL has pushed through like a small locomotive, the good publicity heavily outweighing the bad. But things changed over the weekend, writes Paul Kent.
Opinion
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It started with a kiss and, as often happens, ended in an apology.
Ivan Cleary’s return to early adulthood marked a weird, full-moon weekend for the NRL.
Cleary blew kisses to Wests Tigers fans in a churlish farewell at full-time.
Addin Fonua-Blake escaped with a worryingly light penalty for not only calling referee Grant Atkins a “f***ing retard” but, when Atkins cut him short by telling him again that he had been sent from the field, Fonua-Blake dismissed him with a “f … off”.
Joey Leilua reminded others why the Raiders were happy to show him the door last year.
Leilua simply could not control himself after watching his brother Luciano go down from an innocuous high tackle earlier in the game so, thinking fair’s fair, took out his own blatant revenge late in the game.
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Leilua hit Dylan Edwards high, and when he did not even have the ball.
And then there are the Broncos, a club where the coach admitted at the post-game press conference he was without the answers to fix it and then, less than 12 hours later, the chief executive declared they were going to “stay the course” and nothing would change.
That must fill Broncos fans with hope.
The NRL’s euphoric return suffered its first real setback last weekend.
For six weeks the game has pushed through like a small locomotive, the good publicity heavily outweighing the bad as the game notched up success after success.
The backwards steps suffered over the weekend are hardly catastrophic but should be treated as a warning not to get too carried away.
Goodwill subsides, reality will eventually set in.
More worrying is the incidents themselves go against the simple essence of sport.
The foundation to success in any sport is self discipline. It is a selling point to sport itself, a reason to get the kids off the lounge.
Fonua-Blake and Leilua have expectations beyond their own behaviour.
The Sea Eagles, for one, are already without Tom Trbojevic and Dylan Walker at a club where the depth is already paper thin.
If Fonua-Blake takes the early plea by noon Tuesday the Sea Eagles will be without him for two weeks when they cannot afford it.
Due to the luck of the draw, the Sea Eagles can have a throw at the stumps for a reduced sentence, which further highlights the inadequacy of the NRL’s sanction.
Fonua-Blake is a known anti-vaxxer so the final match of a potential three-game ban would be an away game against the Cowboys in North Queensland that he wouldn’t be playing anyway, given he refused the flu shot earlier this year as part of the competition reboot.
Similarly, the Tigers are hardly travelling flash enough they can do without Leilua, which they will now have to for the next four games.
He has also revealed a soft point for future rivals. Target one Leilua and, it says, you might get rid of the other.
No doubt both coaches will take this up with their players.
When players fall, though, sometimes it is the NRL’s job to correct the course.
Fonua-Blake’s blow-up at the end of the game was regrettable but it just got worse with the NRL’s weak handling.
When James Graham hooked his finger — “because it was rude to point” — at referee Gerard Sutton after a controversial decision gave South Sydney the game against his Bulldogs in 2015 it contained none of the expletives Fonua-Blake settled upon.
Yet Graham got three weeks after taking the early plea.
When Steve Roach patted Eddie Ward on the head he got fined $5000 and suspended for four games.
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Yet Fonua-Blake, whose conduct was more offensive than both, will get only two weeks with an early plea on Tuesday.
There has also been complete silence about the nature of the slur. Calling anybody a “retard” is as deeply offensive as a homophobic or racist slur, yet the NRL failed to acknowledge that.
Don’t open that door.
As for Cleary, he later apologised, albeit with a sting in the tail.
He did not like what the fan said to him, he said, and said he was “not used to fans probably, I was probably a bit emotional.
“But,” he added, “I’m glad I didn’t do what I felt like doing.”
What does that mean? He was hoping to get to first base?