Define 'head butt', pleads Cameron Smith - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Define 'head butt', pleads Cameron Smith

By Wayne Heming 17/06/2010 07:44:16 PM Comments (0)

A concerned Cameron Smith says rugby league administrators must urgently define what constitutes a headbutt after no action was taken against Luke O'Donnell following Wednesday night's State of Origin.

While O'Donnell was lumped with a three week suspension for a spear tackle on Darius Boyd during the 34-6 thumping, no action was taken over his headbutt on Maroons rival Dave Taylor.

It followed Blues teammate Jarryd Hayne getting off a striking charge on Billy Slater, when the Eels ace lashed out with his head during Parramatta's win over Melbourne a fortnight ago.

"It's a pretty ugly look," Smith said of the lack of action being taken over headbutts.

While Smith didn't believe O'Donnell deserved to be sent off for the "worst spear tackle I've seen in a couple of years" he warned the NRL was playing with fire over the way it was handling the headbutt issue.

"Obviously there was a precedent set when Jarryd Hayne was let off when he head-butted Billy Slater," said Smith.

"If you're going to let Jarryd Hayne off and blokes headbutt after that, then you've got to let everyone off, haven't you?"

Smith said the issue required swift action by the game's administrators.

"There's no room for headbutting in our game," he said.

"Obviously if someone throws their head at someone else's head, they're clearly trying to do some damage.

"At the end of the day it's not up to the players or the coaches, it's up to the judiciary to do something about that and I'm sure they'll do it quickly..

"We saw it when Parramatta played us recently and obviously again in last night's Origin.

"It's a very ugly for our game.

"There's going to be times when a few guys get fired up and punches are thrown, it's a contact sport high on intensity and emotion.

"But to go around head butting, there's just no room for it in our game."

Queensland forward Nate Myles, the victim of a high shot across the jaw from Paul Gallen, was suffering from concussion on Thursday.

"You see a lot of that (high shots) happen in games, some get through and some don't," said Smith.

Brought to you by AAP AAP © 2024 AAP

0 Comments about this article

Post a comment about this article

Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.

« All sports news