MELBOURNE skipper Cam Smith believes the NRL has made a statement in its war on the grapple tackle through his suspension - but he has one for officials in return.
He feels he has been made a scapegoat, even if he concedes that he should have been banned for his controversial tackle on Sam Thaiday. Speaking openly about his suspension - and the subsequent costly support by his coach and chief executive - for the first time, Smith questioned why he was rubbed out for two weeks when others have not been charged for similar offences.
"A lot of people are saying we've been whingeing about me copping the two weeks," he said. "I just want to make it clear I am happy to cop the two weeks. I've been told that tackle is illegal, I accept my hand was in the wrong place.
"But there have been tackles the two weeks leading up to that game where they were quite similar to mine and nothing was done about it. It's in the rules that it's illegal, but we just wanted some clarification there as to why there was nothing else done about it before that.
"Obviously it does make a statement and probably has - suspending the captain of an NRL side and taking myself out of a grand final. [But] I would like to think I am as equal as any other player in the competition. If it's good enough to suspend myself, why not anyone else?"
Describing the two-match suspension as "the most disappointing thing I have ever experienced in my career and probably my life so far", Smith suggested the judiciary panel was "under pressure" following the significant publicity the case generated.
His thoughts on previous offences echoed those of coach Craig Bellamy, who highlighted a tackle by Dragons forward Stuart Webb in his unprecedented attack on the NRL judiciary last Friday night after the Storm's grand final qualifier against Cronulla.
Smith said he appreciated the support of Bellamy and chief executive Brian Waldron - which led to the club being fined $50,000 by the NRL - but conceded they went too far. "Things probably got a little out of hand. They probably went a bit further than they wanted to. He runs high on his emotions, Craig. He probably let it get away from him in there a bit. It was quite a big build-up. He was quite angry all week at what happened … he just wanted an answer as to why we were singled out."
And as for Sharks coach Ricky Stuart, whose pre-match comments riled Bellamy and Waldron almost as much as the suspension itself, Smith insisted he could work with him again in the Australian camp for the World Cup, and will attempt to clear the air early.
"If he picks me in the World Cup squad, I will have a chat there," the hooker said. "If there are any issues - and I don't think there is - I will be clearing them up right at the start of the camp, because there is no use going in there with any stuff lingering around because its going to affect the team."
Smith's absence piles the pressure on the Storm's other big names to step up, and probably the biggest of them all, five-eighth Greg Inglis, admitted he had failed to do so in the finals series so far. At the Storm's fan day, attended by about 1000 supporters at the club's training base in Carlton, Inglis said his form in the finals was "probably not up to my standards".
"I haven't produced the best footy I can," he said. "Hopefully I can turn it on this weekend."
He maintained some of the criticism directed at him had been unfair.
"They're always around, aren't they?" Inglis said. "They're always there, knocking on your door. Critics are always going to be critics. They're always hiding in the shadows, waiting for someone to slip up or waiting for you to put in a bad performance."
Bellamy yesterday named Aiden Tolman and Brett Anderson as the 18th and 19th men respectively. Tolman, however, remains a prospect of playing over his good friend Scott Anderson.
■ Manly and Melbourne are set to play each other home and away next season in the 2009 draw to be unveiled today by the NRL at 10am in Martin Place.
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