Manly has been fined $25,000 for comments about referee Ben Cummins
Comments from Manly coach Des Hasler criticising referee Ben Cummins have resulted in a huge fine.
NRL
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NRL boss Andrew Abdo has lashed Manly coach Des Hasler for setting a bad example as the club was hit with a $25,000 fine for comments directed at referee Ben Cummins following the Round 11 loss to Parramatta.
Hasler claimed Cummins “legged up” the Eels post-match and then his player Josh Aloiai doubled-down several days later saying: “The ref did us no favours”.
On Friday the NRL confirmed Manly would be fined $25,000 for the comments by Hasler in the post-match press conference, as well as “additional media interviews, which questioned the competence and integrity of NRL match officials”
Abdo said there was no place in the game for any public comments of that nature.
“The comments by a coach of Des’s standing were disappointing,” he said.
“Particularly disappointing was the sustained criticism of Match Officials over the course of the week.
“We look to those in leadership positions in the game to set an example. We understand that passions run high, but that is simply no excuse to make comments which question the integrity and competence of our officials.
“Public criticism of this nature makes it harder to recruit and retain match officials at all levels of the game.
“To see not only a coach, but a player, criticise officials to this extent is not the level of professionalism we expect in Rugby League.”
The Club has five business days to respond to the breach notice.
The financial hit came after Hasler says a knee injury to Dylan Walker is “some concern” as life without Tom Trbojevic got off to a rocky start.
Walker limped off with a knee injury in Thursday night’s 28-8 loss to Melbourne having lasted just 37 minutes playing with a heavily strapped knee and he will need scans.
Already missing superstar fullback Trbojevic for the remainder of the NRL season, it was an injury the Sea Eagles don’t need with captain Daly Cherry-Evans and Jake Trbojevic set to head in to State of Origin camps.
“Dylan is a bit of a concern for us at the moment,” Hasler said post match as his team slumped to a seventh loss of the season.
“And we’ll lose a couple more with Origin.”
Hasler couldn’t hide his disappointment in his team’s effort as his side butchered countless opportunities within striking distance of the tryline.
He believes the cohesion isn’t broken, but it definitely needs some finetuning if his side is to end the three-game losing streak that has them in a free fall in the standings.
“We just don’t give ourselves a chance,” Hasler said.
“We inflict it upon ourselves and that’s not good.
“We just don‘t set it up, we don’t execute well enough.
“I think we were disappointing in a number of areas that you‘ve only got to adjust or fix minor and you’re right in the game.”
He said that he “can‘t excuse” some of the errors made by his team in attack.
“It’s about building that pressure and building that field position and we just didn’t give ourselves a chance,” Hasler said.
“You can’t keep tossing up errors. We have to find a better application.
“It’s around the individual really buying into that and we need to do some work around that.”
Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans was “disappointed” with his team‘s performance.
He was hurt that his team could not get up for five-eighth Kieran Foran, who was celebrating his 250th NRL game.
“We had plenty to play for,” Cherry-Evans said.
“I think a lot of that (disappointment) was based on knowing we had a few special occasions and some people back in the side.
“They were too good tonight and we were really disappointing.”
Originally published as Manly has been fined $25,000 for comments about referee Ben Cummins
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