Canberra CEO Don Furner has continuously campaigned for trainers to spend less time on the field during an NRL match, with his Raiders on the receiving end of a call that went against them involving a trainer during Sunday's grand final.
Luke Keary's kick was charged down early in the contest and made contact with the Roosters' trainer, with Sydney receiving the ball and a new set of six because of their territorial advantage, which Furner labels as an "archaic rule."
"I've raised it a number of times. It's been a pet hate. It doesn't need to be in the game, but it's crept in and stayed in. I've said it well before the incident [in the grand final]," Furner told SMH.
"That rule is archaic and was made when trainers weren't spending half their time on the field. Regardless of what happened on the weekend, it's been a blight on the game for a long time.
"Trainers aren't standing out there treating any injuries or even giving out drinks, they're standing out there directing the attack and passing messages on. That's what they're for. It would be very easy to clean that up. At the end of the day, those rules are easy - you stop the game and penalise them.
"You don't need 15 people on the field [per team]. We made a massive effort on the fifth tackle, a great charge down, and we get no reward for it. In fact, we're penalised for it."
Furner will meet with NRL chief executives this month, and will likely suggest offenders should be penalised for interfering with play.
Yep you got that right Donny Boi. Allan Langer is the king of onfield trainers. He spends more time on the field then most broncos players, directing traffic & picking out gaps in the defensive line. I heard some commentators say Langer has even earnt some dally M votes over the last couple of years.
Made contact with the Cluckers trainer. It hit him & bounced back ten metres in the opposite direction. Had it not hit him, Canberra’s player was going to pick it up & run away with it
How the team the team whose trainer interferes with play like that gets another set of tackles is rediculous.
What’s stopping a trainer from staying on the field & deliberately kicking away any kick over the top , from an opposition team? There’s no rule against it & their team gets a new set of tackles. Win, Win!
Who cares???? Roosters are the fair winners but what needs fo happen in future, All trainers need to be banned unless there are injuries.
Tedesco would have had the slow forward covered anyway. The Raiders were highly unlikley to score from the kick if it did not hit the trainer.
@DAVE99
Regardless of if raiders scored or not, roosters gained an unfair advantage.
As the Cluckers were going the in the opposite direction, it would have taken them a while to turn & chase WoodDave. You don’t know how far the Canberra could have run, had he been given the chance to pick the ball up.
Tedesco would have run him down? Ever heard of passing to a supporting player?