NRL 2021: Daly Cherry-Evans slams claims he wants Peter V’landys sacked
Daly Cherry-Evans has been tagged as the architect of a leadership coup to oust NRL boss Peter V’landys, but the Queensland captain has hit back at his critics.
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Queensland skipper Daly Cherry-Evans has hit back at accusations he is the architect of an NRL leadership coup to oust Peter V’landys and predicted the game’s high-contact crackdown will be relaxed for State of Origin.
V’landys has come under fire from some of the game’s leading players following the rule change controversy and high-tackle blitz, which has led to spate of sin-binnings, send offs and suspensions.
Disgruntled players feel they have had little say when it comes to key decisions that impact how the game is played.
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The crackdown could severely impact next Wednesday’s Origin series-opener in Townsville if multiple players are sent from the field due to the brutal nature of the state-versus-state concept.
Cherry-Evans is president of the Rugby League Players’ Association and has been accused of being the agitator behind speculation to have V’landys removed as ARLC chairman.
But the Maroons captain said he had been made the scapegoat and was only voicing the concerns of the game’s frustrated players.
“Media always try to put it on one person,” he said.
“I’m a voice of the RLPA and a voice for the playing group.
“I haven’t personally come out and said I want V’landys sacked.
“People can assume all they want – I’m just voicing the concerns of the broader playing group. That’s all I’m doing.”
When asked if the players were frustrated, Cherry-Evans said: “Yeah. Why? There’s been a lack of consultation for so long, mate.
“When the rules continually get changed on the run without consultation that’s going to lead to any workplace getting a little bit disgruntled, right?”
The high-contact crackdown marred Magic Round in Brisbane last month but the players are gradually adapting to the zero-tolerance attitude from referees, albeit with consistency controversies.
State of Origin is regularly the highest-rating television broadcast of the year, with an audience of around four million expected to tune in on Wednesday night.
The application of rugby league’s rules has generally been relaxed to a degree during Origin, but the NRL has vowed to uphold the crackdown on the game’s biggest stage.
That could result in multiple players being sent from the field at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, but Cherry-Evans was confident that wouldn’t be the case.
“I’m not worried, I know the NRL will do the right thing by the game, the players and the product we’ve got,” he said. “I’ve got no concerns. I think it’s going to be a great product next Wednesday night.”
When pressed on whether he thought the NRL would loosen the rules, Cherry-Evans said: “Take that how you want.”
Maroons prop Christian Welch is a director of the RLPA and said the players’ supposed collaborative approach with the NRL hadn’t materialised.
“I don’t have a problem with V’landys and all of this talk about him getting rissoled is a bit sensationalised,” he said. “The RLPA has a good point that the process of how the players have been treated (isn’t right).
“We’ve got elected representatives like Clint Newton (RLPA CEO) who are at the coalface to try and talk about our game and some issues and things we can improve on. At the moment, there’s not a healthy relationship there.
“We want to work with the NRL. When we announced that CBA (collective bargaining agreement) we were sitting there smiling, shaking hands and talking about how we’re partners in the game and will develop the game.
“It hasn’t really happened. We’re a little bit frustrated.”
Welch backed the crackdown but said there had to be some leniency applied to tackles where the ball-carrying player contributed to accidental high-contact.
“You can’t hit a guy in the head. It’s common sense,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with it. I missed an Origin last year through concussion. I see how important it is.
“It’s more when a player gets chopped low and is losing his body height, those ones (are harsh penalties). The out-and-out straight contact with the head, I agree, it’s important (to eradicate that).”
DCE LAYS DOWN HUGE CHALLENGE TO V’LANDYS
By Martin Gabor
Daly Cherry-Evans says it’s time for Peter V’landys to step up and look after the players as the game finds itself in a state of confusion heading into the biggest event on the rugby league calendar.
The Sea Eagles skipper and general president of the RLPA doesn’t believe it’s time for V’landys to leave his post after weeks of controversy surrounding the rushed in crackdown on contact to the head, but has implored the ARLC to sort it out quickly with the State of Origin opener less than a fortnight away.
“He has always said he is the players’ man, right now I would like to see Peter be that man for us,” Cherry-Evans said.
“That’s not for me to decide. That’s a massive call. We’re talking about someone who has done so much in their industries. He is obviously an extremely qualified businessman and I have so much respect for what he did in the Covid period.
“Do I think he should go? No. That’s not for me to say, no way.”
The situation threatens to boil over as players, commentators and fans alike struggle to keep up with interpretations that seem to change from game to game.
The Sea Eagles were hit hard with two players sent to the sin bin during Sunday’s loss to the Knights, while Newcastle forward Tyson Frizell was merely penalised for a tackle that was forceful and hit Martin Taupau in the head.
The inconsistent rulings have left everyone confused since they were rushed in before Magic Round, and Cherry-Evans says things need to change before they get worse.
“I think as a game we have backed ourselves into a corner here, unfortunately,” the incumbent Kangaroos captain said.
“Now we’ve got to come up with these ideas and miracles to get out of. I have always said I think we’ve just got such a fantastic product the game of rugby league, and it’s been changed dramatically. It’s probably the lack of acknowledgment from the NRL that is probably the most frustrating thing for players.
“As a game we backed ourselves into the corner with the rule changes. What do we do to get out of it? We have to talk about it. Not necessarily through the media, not necessarily through the public.
“We have a really great product so let’s just get it back on track and have everyone cheering for their teams and excited to get back to the footy. And try to take out the contentious decisions and momentum swings.”
Cherry-Evans hasn’t spoken to V’landys but says he is more than happy to voice his opinions when people are ready to listen to him and other players.
“I don’t know if angry is the right word, no one is angry about it,” he said.
“But you go to work tomorrow and you’ve signed up for something and then it gets changed. How would you feel? We have had our rules changed on the run mid-season with no consultation. We’re adapting, we’re adjusting, we’re doing the best we can. But you go ask the fans whether they like what they’re watching.”
With the focus now on microscopic Bunker investigations to decide whether a player should be penalised or sent to the sin bin, the actual games have become a secondary issue that have been overshadowed by contentious calls.
Cherry-Evans says a lot of this could have been avoided if the players had been consulted, with the game now in a tough spot heading into the most brutal three games of the year.
“It’s a hypothetical, but you’d like to think if everyone in the game — all parties, all shareholders were consulted on it — you’d think the result and the decisions that were made, everyone would have at least agreed on them or knew they were coming,” he said when asked whether a meeting should have been brokered.
“That’s why I keep saying that we’re backed into a corner. People made decisions, the repercussions have been seen, and not everyone likes it.
“We’re not demanding money, we’re not demanding them to give us (anything). We’re asking that if you’re going to change the conditions — our working conditions — then let us know and involve people.
“Unfortunately, no one was involved, not everyone likes it, and now our game gets negative press. I hate it when our game gets negative press.
“I keep harping on it — we’ve got such a good project. Rugby league is a great game. We’re about to go into the pinnacle of the sport in Origin and we’re talking about if our product is right or not.
“I am worried about it. I really hope with what’s arguably our biggest spectacle that we can see it celebrated for what it is.”
Hasler hits out at ‘crazy’ penalty count
Des Hasler has slammed referee Ben Cummins for a lopsided penalty count in his side’s loss to the Knights, and took aim at the NRL’s crackdown after he had two players sent to the sin bin on a day of grossly inconsistent rulings.
The Knights were awarded the first nine penalties of the game, and it wasn’t until the final minute that the Sea Eagles received their first when David Klemmer was sent to the sin bin for a high shot on debutant Ben Trbojevic.
“I can accept ill-discipline in parts and we’ll categorise that,” Hasler said.
“First of all I though we defended pretty well. The 18 points against us doesn’t do justice to the game. You were all witnesses; you all saw what happened out there.
“We ran into a sizeable breeze in the first half so from a defensive point of view we were called up on to do quite a bit of D. “But it’s very difficult with a 9-0 penalty count. I think we got our first penalty in the last 11 seconds.
“Benny Cummins is a much better referee than that. A much better referee than that. First of all there’s an issue there, the fact we couldn’t buy some retribution as far as field position was concerned.”
While irked by the penalty count, Hasler was mortified with the sin bin interpretations after he lost Sean Keppie and Martin Taupau for 10 minutes, while Tyson Frizell remained on the field for a high shot on Taupau.
The Keppie decision was a no-brainer, but the inconsistencies of the other tackles were glaring, with the Bunker intervening to take play back 50 metres to send Taupau to the bin for a tackle that was penalty sufficient at most.
“Let’s go to the sin bins. I don’t quite understand the rule about the sin bin,” Hasler said.
“Our player was attacked to the head, on report, 10 minutes. But Marty, when he was carrying the ball, he got hit high, so to come in contact with the head – forceful contact with the head – that’s a sin bin and they didn’t get sent to the sin bin.
“That’s not a whinge or a reflection on Newcastle. It’s a reflection on the inconsistency in regard to that rule.
“Well done to Newcastle, they got the two points, but they were ably assisted, let’s be honest in relation to that.
“When we go back and Marty got hit high there was no review of it, no going back to it. He wasn’t right. There was some indication, some cause there and no sin binning.
“Not that I’m calling for that but if we’re going to go down that track, we need to be consistent about it.”
Hasler conceded his side didn’t help themselves in the discipline department as they squandered a 10-0 lead, but he says the NRL has plenty to think about as they deal with another controversial afternoon that overshadowed a quality game of footy.
“That’s up to the officiating party,” he said.
“I know Graeme Annesley will be watching and he’ll have another sleepless night tonight and he’ll wake up with a headache in the morning. Games are tight, games are hard to win and if that’s the way we’re going to go we need that consistency.
“That’s the path they’ve chosen, they’ve just got to find a way out with the consistency. We need to do something about [high shots] but I didn’t think it was consistent today.”
Crackdown backdown? Complete confusion ahead of Origin
Players head into State of Origin with no idea what constitutes a penalty, sin bin or send off after another day of confusion over the NRL’s crackdown on high contact, while Tyson Frizell limped off late and was placed on report on a day that saw him left out of the squad for the series opener.
The NSW veteran was cautioned in the second half for a high shot on Martin Taupau that initially went unnoticed by the on-field officials, but the force and direct contact means he will most likely be charged.
He can escape with a fine if it’s only a grade one, but anything more than that would see him facing a ban that would rub him out of the series opener, although none of that will matter if he succumbs to an ankle injury that saw him limp off late.
“Four minutes to go is a bit heartbreaking to see him roll that ankle,” Adam O’Brien said.
“He has had some ankles in the past that he has recovered pretty quickly from, so fingers crossed for him. I’d love to see him suit up for the Blues.
“Friz being Friz, he’ll do everything. He’ll ice all night, won’t sleep, he’ll get up and he’ll get it moving tomorrow. He’s a professional.”
CRACKDOWN CONFUSION
The simmering tension between the stars of the game and those at head office will only intensify as Knights fans erupted over a couple of tackles in the space of two minutes that they thought should have been dealt with more harshly.
In bizarre circumstances in the first half, fill-in five-eighth Tevita Funa went up to contest a Daly Cherry-Evans bomb but ended up catching Starford To’a flush around the jaw after he took his eyes off the ball.
Under the crackdown, the Sea Eagles youngster should have been sent to the sin bin, but referee Ben Cummins put him on report instead, prompting Andrew Voss to say “RIP to the crackdown” in commentary.
Barely two minutes later, Sea Eagles back-rower Sean Keppie belted Phoenix Crossland high and late after the Knights halfback had kicked the ball. He was marched for 10 minutes, but Andrew Johns said he was lucky not to be sent off.
The drama continued in the second half when Taupau was sensationally sin binned for a tackle on Daniel Saifiti which was initially missed by the referees but was penalised after the Bunker brought play back to the other end of the field.
The contact was incidental and did no damage, and it highlighted the gross inconsistencies that are plaguing a game that is supposedly being treated in black and white terms but is 50 shades of grey right now.
SUNDAY SHOCK
It looked like the Knights were headed for another loss after they failed to take advantage of a strong breeze at their backs in the first half.
The hosts dropped the ball three times in the first eight minutes, while their fifth mistake led to a Jason Saab runaway try to make it 10-0 before they fought back to lead 12-10 at the break.
In all, the Knights had 24 tackles in the opposition 20-metre zone in the first half while the Sea Eagles had just two, but the hosts held firm and defended bravely to collect two crucial points without Kalyn Ponga.
It was one of their best performances of the season given they were without their two most important attacking weapons, and it breathes new life into a campaign that was threatening to spiral out of control.
“It’s a big win for us,” O’Brien said.
“There was lots to like about it.”
SADDLER IN HOSPITAL
Thoughts are with Sea Eagles forward Zac Saddler who was taken to John Hunter Hospital with a depressed fracture of the skull following a head clash in the second half.
It’s awful news for the emerging talent, but the club says he is in a stable condition.
SEEING TRIPLE
It was meant to be the day we celebrated three Trbojevic brothers playing together for the first time, but Ben’s debut only lasted a minute after he came on at the death and was collected high by David Klemmer, who was sent to the sin bin.
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