Chris Barrett SMH
Michael Jennings has accused Brisbane's Josh McGuire of a "low act" in stomping on the ankle of Parramatta captain Tim Mannah while also taking aim at fellow Broncos forward Adam Blair for a lunge at this legs that could have caused him a serious injury.
The aftermath of the Eels' 14-point win over Brisbane last Friday night was dominated by criticism of Parramatta forward Kenny Edwards for a hit on young Broncos winger Jonus Pearson, who was lying stationary on the ground.
Did McGuire intentionally stomp Mannah?
Brisbane Bronco Josh McGuire dangerously stood on the ankle of Eels captain Tim Mannah, but was it intentional?
Broncos players were furious about it and Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett declared that the Edwards incident, over which he was fined $1100, was "not the look that the game wants" but his players have now also come under attack over their conduct in the game. Vision of serial offender McGuire rising from a tackle on Mannah and stomping on the front-rower's ankle as he left the ruck was circulated widely on social media on Monday and when Eels centre Jennings was shown the footage he was not impressed.
"That shouldn't be in our game. That's dirty play. You can see it's intentional ... [he's] trying to tread on his ankle. It's good that no one came out hurt out of it. But those intentions, you don't need that in our game," Jennings said
"That's just low. I couldn't think of anything worse than trying to hurt someone else."
McGuire has no shortage of form when it comes to antagonising opposition players. NSW front-rower Andrew Fifita accused him of diving at his legs in this year's State of Origin series, during which he also enraged Fifita with a post-match sledge after Queensland's victory in game two in Sydney.
He was also seen to pull at Fifita's hair during an Origin match last year and after another Queensland series win was wrapped up in 2016 taunted the Blues with social media post gloating that "Losers have meetings winners have parties".
"I guess that's his reputation," Jennings said. "I can't really comment on that. That's his reputation but I've known him personally, I've met that bloke so it's kind of hard to bring him down. Whether that's how he plays, or that's in his game."Jennings said he had never tried to injure an opponent.
"I don't think most players intentionally go out there to hurt people. We really don't need that in our game. It's just low, it's dirty," he said.
While Mannah was unharmed Jennings counted himself fortunate not to have suffered a similar fate to McCullough after what former Broncos captain Gorden Tallis has labelled an attempted cheap shot on the Eels centre.
No stranger to accusations of dirty play before, Blair lunged at Jennings' legs in an attempt to bring down the 29-year-old but instead he collected teammate McCullough.
The result was a knee injury that has forced the hooker to undergo season-ending surgery and could sideline him for seven months. "I'm lucky that I didn't come out of that tackle really badly," Jennings said. "It's sad to see that Adam's own teammate has been injured."
Replies
Poor Timmy, this is nothing short of an OUTRAGE, How dare that cunt do that to our Timmy!
Yes Wild, Allgood was about to Blew another Bronco and McGuire had a crack; i was there and Mitch wanted another go and could handle himself ok
People in glass houses lads, its not like we dont have the odd few nigly and dirty players, every team needs em.
Maybe there was a bug on tims leg he was trying to squash.?
Well, if the Bronx are going to cry like little girls because Kenny tackled a player on the ground and dob on him, then we should them a taste of their own medicine.
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