NSW skipper Paul Gallen has leapt to the defence of Parramatta prop Mitchell Allgood after his spat with Manly’s Steve Matai and says the new NRL striking rules will see minor incidents blown out of all proportion.
Allgood was sent to the sin bin for landing a punch on Matai after the combative Manly centre charged towards him following a swinging arm by the prop on teammate Jamie Buhrer.
He was subsequently slugged with a grade-three striking charge by the NRL match review committee on Tuesday and faces a two-week stint on the sidelines with an early guilty plea.
Gallen said Allgood deserved to be sent from the field, but felt incidents are being highlighted more than ever since the rule change came in three weeks ago.
“He should have been sin-binned under the new rules, but I have some sympathy for Mitch Allgood,” Gallen said.
“While not agreeing with what he did of course, when Steve Matai is running towards you looking like he is going to hurt you I can see why it happened. But we are in danger of these things being blown all out of proportion.
“Maybe in a controlled environment of a game it is not the right thing to do but if someone runs up towards you in the street looking like that … but he will get banned regardless of what I say or think.”
Blues back-rower Greg Bird said he is no fan of the new ruling and said it was wrong for the NRL to take the control out of the hands of the on-field referees.
“I’ve said before there is a lot of grey in rugby league and you can’t judge every incident the same,” Bird said.
“Referees already have the power to send blokes to the bin if they think it’s worthy and I don’t see why that power has been taken away from them by people not on the field.
“I don’t mind seeing a good stink every now and then!”
Gallen insists his feud with Queensland prop Nate Myles is a thing of the past and revealed there’s been no explanation from officials for Bird’s sin-binning in game two of Origin in Brisbane.
Bird was sent to the sidelines along with teammate Trent Merrin after Merrin hit Brent Tate.
Tate also spent 10 minutes on the side with Justin Hodges after the incident boiled over with players from both sides becoming involved in a melee.
“The whole Myles thing is a non-issue for me,” he said.
“I was upset because I got suspended after what he said to me and then pushed me.
“As far as I am concerned he took it to the next level and I was entitled to stand up for myself.
“Birdy shouldn’t have gone off .. Merrin should and Justin Hodges should as he came in and threw a punch from behind.”