PENRITH, AUSTRALIA - MAY 06: Taylan May of the Panthers is tackled during the round nine NRL match between the Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Eels at BlueBet Stadium on May 06, 2022, in Penrith, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The NRL’s most-capped player, Storm, Queensland and Australian icon Cameron Smith, has branded the league’s decision to delay Taylan May’s two-game suspension until the new season as ‘craziness’, claiming the Panthers winger should be serving his ban immediately.
May was handed a two-match ban that starts in 2023 after he was found guilty of assault last week. Though no conviction was officially recorded and he was only required to pay $2000 in total fines, the NRL came down further.
Though the league handed down a ban and a significantly higher fine than the courts, the decision to begin the two-game suspension next year has left many pundits and fans perplexed and outraged.
Smith questioned the repeated inconsistencies regarding player suspensions, calling upon some specific precedents to point out the league’s hypocrisy.
“We all know how the season ended for the Broncos,” Smith said on SEN’s The Captain’s Run.
“They were missing one of their most influential players for a month in Patrick Carrigan for a hip drop tackle.
“He got four weeks, and in those four weeks Brisbane lost three games and won one… and put a nail in their coffin for the season.
“The Roosters, they’ve lost Lindsay Collins for four weeks for a similar incident, a hip drop tackle. They won’t see him again this year unless they make the grand final.
“Did the Roosters and Broncos fans apply those tackles? Because I’d like to think that now they’re being punished for those players not being there.
“Latrell Mitchell, high contact on Joey Manu (in 2021) – six weeks. He missed the entire finals and a Grand Final that they lost by just two points.
“Was it the Rabbitohs fans fault Latrell performed the high contact on Joey Manu? No. So why are we now changing the rules?
“I bring up these three cases because we’ve got the same management in the NRL, the same management in our commission, yet we’re changing the rules.
“It’s ridiculous, we’ve never seen this before. I think it’s craziness. He should be serving his two weeks right now.”
May has been named on the wing for tonight’s game against Parramatta.