Eels Blogs

Double Standards

Posted by Prof. Daz on September 27, 2026 at 5:01pm

Cleary's ankle broken in preliminary final, with foul play (hip drop tackle). Stretchered off. Ref sends the Knight off because of extreme risk/damage.

Simmonson's ankle broken in Round 5, with foul play (mid air tackle). Stretchered off. Ref sends the Tiger to the sin bin for 10 mins, after telling bunker "it looks bad".

Luckily there is not a double standard where some teams are take care of and others have to fend for themselves. Sarcasm emoji's galore.

Double standard or the new standard?

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Replies

Prof. Daz September 27, 2026 at 5:15pm

I'm sure it was a coincidence that the ref then tried to disallow a fair try to Knights.
Mallee57 September 27, 2026 at 5:18pm

That should not have been a send off in my opinion. Cleary was already injured before starting this match and thats obvious by him not starting the game. To send the Knights player off on the basis the tackle caused a major injury is incorrect! Clearly was already injured and should not have even played becuase the risk of further injury is 100% more likely in every single tackle! The Penrith side should be responsible for breaking duty of care to their player! The chance of Knights winning now with 1 player less is highly unlikely but of closures the NRL can't have their 2 big favourite babies miss out on a Grand Final appearance. So they ensure they breast fed with the biggest sucker next week named the champions! Total farce
- LB > Mallee57 September 27, 2026 at 5:25pm
  
  His prior injury has nothing to do with this injury. Him either playing or not doesn't change that tackle or the result in any form.
  - Mallee57 > LB September 28, 2026 at 3:25pm
    
    Rubbish! IF he didn't play guess what? NO 2nd injury! So common sense should have prevailed by the Penrith coaching staff knowing full well the Cleary was already carrying a serious injury. A 'broken right foot' and if it wasn't that serious they wouldn't have chose to him to only play limited minutes. So in my opinion the Penrith staff are fully to blame
    - Poppa > Mallee57 September 28, 2026 at 4:02pm
      
      Mallee you do realise it was not the same leg....don't you?
      
      PS I suggest the staff at Penrith do not tell any Cleary what to do......
      - Mallee57 > Poppa October 1, 2026 at 4:42pm
        
        Of course I'm aware it was his other foot! However, playing a game of that magnitude ( or any Rugby League game) with a broken right foot would have most definitely have contributed to the severity of the hip drop injury! Even though it was his left foot!
    - LB > Mallee57 September 28, 2026 at 4:27pm
      
      Mallee you cannot be that thick to believe that his broken right foot had an impact on his broken left ankle?
      
      Any player can get hurt at anytime, that's the risk within a contact sport. I would say roughly over 50% of players play most weeks with an injury of some sort that should keep them out a while.
      
      Broken foot or not, that was happening yesterday. If he hurt his foot further where a fracture becomes worse, then yeah that's on the staff. But this injury is completely unrelated. You are basically saying if he didn't play he doesn't get injured, if that's the case he should never play as he will never get injured.
      
      What a dumb comment with all due respect.
      - Mallee57 > LB October 1, 2026 at 4:44pm
        
        Maybe it's you that's 'thick' 🤣!
        
        Inability to Slip or Spin Out: Because Cleary's acceleration and lateral footwork were physically restricted, he could not easily evade the contact. This allowed the defender to cleanly wrap him up and execute a tackle mechanism that might have otherwise been avoided or slipped.
        
        Rigid Body Posture: Due to asymmetric weight distribution, Cleary was already overloading his left side. When the contact occurred, his body positioning was heavily anchored to the left leg, leaving it planted deeply into the turf.
        
        Trapped Limb Dynamics: A healthy, uninjured player might have had the split-second explosive power or reaction time to twist their foot out of harm's way or collapse dynamically to the ground. Cleary’s restricted movement and heavy left-sided stance meant his left foot remained firmly pinned to the ground as the defender’s body weight dropped directly across the lower leg, maximizing the catastrophic mechanical leverage of the hip-drop tackle.
- Electric Eel 2 > Mallee57 September 27, 2026 at 5:32pm
  
  It was not the injured foot. His injury befire this game was his right foot. He has now broken his left foot.
  - Prof. Daz > Electric Eel 2 September 27, 2026 at 5:39pm
    
    All Footloose references are appropriate.