‘Big man syndrome’: Reed Mahoney stands by protecting his Bulldogs teammates in scuffles

Bulldogs hooker Reed Mahoney says some forwards suffer from ‘big man syndrome’ when they see him after being involved in an on-field fight for the second week in a row.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 04: Reed Mahoney of the Bulldogs runs the ball during the round nine NRL match between Canterbury Bulldogs and Wests Tigers at Accor Stadium, on May 04, 2024, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Bulldogs hooker Reed Mahoney says some forwards suffer from “big man syndrome” when they see him after he was targeted for the second game in a row in a fiery finish to Saturday’s contest which will attract plenty of interest from the match review committee.

Mahoney was on the receiving end of an Alex Seyfarth headbutt which saw the forward become the second Wests Tigers player in a matter of seconds to be sent to the sin bin.

The nuggety nine had rushed in as a scuffle broke out, with Seyfarth lashing out two weeks after Knights prop Jack Hetherington squared up to punch him in the Accor Stadium tunnel after he and Mahoney were sent to the sin bin.

Reed Mahoney was involved in a scuffle with Alex Seyfarth. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

“I didn’t even see it coming. I was just running in there. The Tigers were running in and I was running in,” Mahoney said when asked about the incident.

“I just did whatever everyone else would do by running in there to protect their mate, and I got the second hand of it.”

Mahoney was sporting a shiner under his left eye but said that came from a collision at training with Viliame Kikau and had nothing to do with happened on the field.

The workhorse dummy-half was sin binned against the Knights a fortnight ago for mouthing off and featuring in several minor scuffles, but he doesn’t apologise for his actions which clearly get under the skin of rival big men who don’t know how to retaliate.

“I’m just playing the footy that I’ve been playing for the last five years,” he said.

“I don’t really worry about that stuff. I go into those little scuffles because I’m there to protect my mates, and that’s what we’re about here – protecting each other to the death.

“I’m not there to start anything, I’m just there to protect and stand up for my boys, so that’s how I see it.

“I think people get big man syndrome because they don’t like little people talking up to them. Maybe that’s their fault, not mine.”

Mahoney has been strong for the Bulldogs so far this season. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

The Bulldogs star didn’t want to relive the Hetherington incident which saw the Knights forward suspended and Mahoney fined, with the NRL just glad there were Canterbury officials in the tunnel to stop things from boiling over.

“I’m the sort of player who leaves everything on the field,” he said.

“He got pretty angry, but I’ll leave it at that.

“We play on emotion and we all get like that sometimes, so I’ll leave it at that.”