Serial grapple offenders get their comeuppance
26.09.2009



By: Dan Koch


MELBOURNE coach Craig Bellamy and his captain Cameron Smith are two of the most admired and respected men in rugby league and have received many accolades in recent years.
However, if they are looking for sympathy in the wake of the two-game suspension handed out to Smith for his tackle on Broncos forward Sam Thaiday, their search will prove as futile as Don Quixote tilting at windmills.
It is disappointing that a player of Smith's class will not be part of tonight's preliminary final against the Sharks or next weekend's grand final -- should the Storm qualify -- but it remains difficult to feel sorry for him.
Smith got what he deserved. For five years, Melbourne has pushed boundaries with its grappling and jiu-jitsu techniques to gain an advantage at the ruck.
It was during the 2003 finals series that the tactics employed by Bellamy and his ``defensive'' coach, Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert John Donehue, first came under fire. You could be excused for feeling a sense of deja vu when reading the comments of the time.
``Sometimes you get strangled or put in the sleeper hold and you can't move. It is dangerous and it can be scary,'' said Steve Price, who was captain of the Bulldogs at the time and preparing for a finals match against Melbourne.
Price was banging the same drum two weeks ago, when, as captain of the Warriors, he took on the Storm.
Simon Woolford was captain of a Canberra side that complained bitterly about Melbourne's tactics that same year.
``Melbourne said they didn't train to do it, but I've seen footage of the tackles and they don't look too good,'' Woolford said.
And Smith has long been considered one of the main offenders when it comes to the grapple. ``I know I've been portrayed as one of the players ... I'll just keep on tackling the way I do every other week,'' he said in 2005.
With the Storm, you could say nothing has changed, but it has -- it's become worse. Now we have the crusher, ripper, chicken wing tackles, as well as the use of pressure point holds on wrists, knees, achilles tendons and ankle.
Over the past two years, Bellamy's continued denials over the use of grapple techniques have become almost laughable. Past players have confirmed what everyone in rugby league knew. Storm players have long been taught and practised the techniques to the point where they have become second nature.
Donehue's philosophy even shot down the Storm claims. ``There are several aspects of wrestling that could be applied to (rugby league) training,'' he once said on an NHB (No Holds Barred) Fight video.
``Tackling styles, arm locks, ways of protecting the football and methods of slowing down the play-the-ball area are all vital parts of the game that can be enhanced.
``I concentrate on upper-body wrestling techniques in terms of tying up the guy who has got the ball and turning him over on to his back in defence.
``I also make sure they understand the finer points of body positioning before they go in to tackle and different ways to bring people down to the ground and control them once there.''
So overwhelming has the evidence against the Storm become that Bellamy has changed tack with his defence. Now when a coach, be it Wayne Bennett, Michael Hagan, Nathan Brown, John Cartwright or most recently Ricky Stuart, questions the tactics of Storm players in the ruck area, Bellamy throws out the old ``but they do it too'' argument.
It was the basis of their defence in the media and much of the criticism of the handling of Smith's case.
While not denying Smith made two attempts to wrench Thaiday's head sideways before bending him backwards -- which is in breach of the rule outlawing ``unnecessary contact with an opposition player's head or neck'' -- the Storm pointed to other examples throughout the year. But if you are caught speeding by a policeman with a radar gun, the argument that the bloke beside you in the SS Commodore was speeding, too, doesn't excuse you.