It seems a pattern of brutality is emerging here, Mr Maguire.
You suck one lousy one ... and what do they call you?
But I digress. TFF's item last week about the outrage of South Sydney forward Sam Burgess attacking another man's genitals to further the chances of winning a football match, saw your humble correspondent accused of being engaged in ''league-bashing''.
Those accusations notwithstanding, this week I cannot resist raising the subject of his teammate Jeff Lima. Last week, early in the first half of the game against Manly, Lima grabbed the right leg of his opponent Anthony Watmough – known to be carrying a strained posterior cruciate ligament on that very leg – and even though the tackle was completed, did a ''death roll''. That is, Lima gratuitously twisted his body the way a crocodile drowns its prey, so Watmough's leg and, thus, knee would twist with it.
Feeling the pinch: the Storm's Will Chambers. Photo: Getty Images
You with me? He specifically targeted the injury of another player so as to exacerbate that injury further. His reward? Watmough limped for the rest of the match, Souths won and Lima received a very tepid one-week suspension. But here is the question. Where was the public outcry? The outrage? Is this really what sport has come to, that, apart from a few fuddy-duddies tut-tutting in the judiciary, it is quite permissible to try and MAIM an opponent?
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It seems while on the one hand rugby league constantly promotes the image of the former captains of the St George and Wests teams Arthur Summons and Norm Provan warmly embracing each other at the end of the 1963 grand final, the harsh reality is bitterly different.
That rightly celebrated photo bespeaks football sportsmanship at the highest level, of two men who have thrown everything at each other for 80 minutes, but who at the conclusion of it, are even better friends than before. ''The Gladiators'' embodies the spirit of football the way it is meant to be played.
Twist and shout: Jeff Lima (bottom left) tackles Anthony Watmough. Photo: Channel 9
What the Lima act represents, however, is thuggish bastardry pure and simple. And it is not as if it is a one-off, for either the NRL or Lima.
In the NRL there are dozens of cases, the most notable modern example of which was in 2008 when Paul Gallen infamously worked his fingers beneath the bandages of Anthony Laffranchi, and ripped into the freshly inserted stitches the Gold Coast forward had just had put into a bad head wound.
Laffranchi had to leave the field, and shortly thereafter, Gallen went after another player's testicles, all as part of his previously enunciated dictum: ''We've got a motto here at the Sharks – do whatever it takes to win.''
Shame file: South Sydney coach Michael Maguire. Photo: Getty Images
As to Lima himself, here is a thumbnail sketch of his record – even if that thumbnail might feel like it's boring into your eyeball.
❏ March 2009. Charged with a ''chicken wing'' tackle while playing for Melbourne. (The chicken wing seeks to injure the arm of the opponent.)
❏ July 2009. Reported by referee for a ''crusher'' tackle, again while playing for the Storm. (The crusher seeks to hamper the movement of your opponent by putting pressure on their head or neck.)
❏ May 2010. Playing for the Storm, charged with ''dangerous throw''. One-week ban.
❏ February 2011. Two charges of ''chicken wing'' tackles while playing his first match for Wigan in Britain, with two match suspensions, fined £300.
❏ April 2011. Reported for late shoulder charge on Johnathan Thurston ... escaped charge.
Lima has, thus, what we refer to in the trade, as ''form''.
Most troubling of all is the role of Souths coach Michael Maguire in the piece. For not only was Maguire the coach who presided over the latest Lima and Burgess atrocities, but he was also Lima's assistant coach at the Storm and his coach at Wigan. In Britain, as in Australia, coaches have become wary of the dangerous tactics that seem to be promoted by Maguire.
In the words of The Guardian, in April 2011: ''To rival Super League coaches, players and administrators, Maguire remains a divisive figure because of the tactics and, specifically tackling techniques, that underpinned Wigan's rapid rise last season.'' (Is this sounding familiar?)
In the Herald this year, we noted of Maguire's time in Britain, ''Perhaps one source of motivation was a series of photos along a corridor at Wigan's training base. One photo of an opposition player lying on the ground after a heavy tackle by four Wigan players was captioned: 'Roadkill achieved'.''
I have it from one strong source that, shortly after Maguire arrived at Souths, the battle cry ''roadkill'' started to be heard from Souths sides. It is a serious matter. In the NFL recently, the defensive co-ordinator of the New Orleans Saints had to resign after it emerged he had been offering cash rewards for tackles that took key opponents out of the game – and rightly so.
I don't say Maguire has done that with Souths. But I do say a pattern of brutality is beginning to emerge under his tenure that is outrageous, and needs to called out as such.
Twitter - @Peter_Fitz
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/it-seems-a-pattern-of-brutality-is-emerging-here-mr-maguire-20130821-2sbts.html#ixzz2cg0Xo7zU
You suck one lousy one ... and what do they call you?
But I digress. TFF's item last week about the outrage of South Sydney forward Sam Burgess attacking another man's genitals to further the chances of winning a football match, saw your humble correspondent accused of being engaged in ''league-bashing''.
Those accusations notwithstanding, this week I cannot resist raising the subject of his teammate Jeff Lima. Last week, early in the first half of the game against Manly, Lima grabbed the right leg of his opponent Anthony Watmough – known to be carrying a strained posterior cruciate ligament on that very leg – and even though the tackle was completed, did a ''death roll''. That is, Lima gratuitously twisted his body the way a crocodile drowns its prey, so Watmough's leg and, thus, knee would twist with it.
Feeling the pinch: the Storm's Will Chambers. Photo: Getty Images
You with me? He specifically targeted the injury of another player so as to exacerbate that injury further. His reward? Watmough limped for the rest of the match, Souths won and Lima received a very tepid one-week suspension. But here is the question. Where was the public outcry? The outrage? Is this really what sport has come to, that, apart from a few fuddy-duddies tut-tutting in the judiciary, it is quite permissible to try and MAIM an opponent?
Advertisement
It seems while on the one hand rugby league constantly promotes the image of the former captains of the St George and Wests teams Arthur Summons and Norm Provan warmly embracing each other at the end of the 1963 grand final, the harsh reality is bitterly different.
That rightly celebrated photo bespeaks football sportsmanship at the highest level, of two men who have thrown everything at each other for 80 minutes, but who at the conclusion of it, are even better friends than before. ''The Gladiators'' embodies the spirit of football the way it is meant to be played.
Twist and shout: Jeff Lima (bottom left) tackles Anthony Watmough. Photo: Channel 9
What the Lima act represents, however, is thuggish bastardry pure and simple. And it is not as if it is a one-off, for either the NRL or Lima.
In the NRL there are dozens of cases, the most notable modern example of which was in 2008 when Paul Gallen infamously worked his fingers beneath the bandages of Anthony Laffranchi, and ripped into the freshly inserted stitches the Gold Coast forward had just had put into a bad head wound.
Laffranchi had to leave the field, and shortly thereafter, Gallen went after another player's testicles, all as part of his previously enunciated dictum: ''We've got a motto here at the Sharks – do whatever it takes to win.''
Shame file: South Sydney coach Michael Maguire. Photo: Getty Images
As to Lima himself, here is a thumbnail sketch of his record – even if that thumbnail might feel like it's boring into your eyeball.
❏ March 2009. Charged with a ''chicken wing'' tackle while playing for Melbourne. (The chicken wing seeks to injure the arm of the opponent.)
❏ July 2009. Reported by referee for a ''crusher'' tackle, again while playing for the Storm. (The crusher seeks to hamper the movement of your opponent by putting pressure on their head or neck.)
❏ May 2010. Playing for the Storm, charged with ''dangerous throw''. One-week ban.
❏ February 2011. Two charges of ''chicken wing'' tackles while playing his first match for Wigan in Britain, with two match suspensions, fined £300.
❏ April 2011. Reported for late shoulder charge on Johnathan Thurston ... escaped charge.
Lima has, thus, what we refer to in the trade, as ''form''.
Most troubling of all is the role of Souths coach Michael Maguire in the piece. For not only was Maguire the coach who presided over the latest Lima and Burgess atrocities, but he was also Lima's assistant coach at the Storm and his coach at Wigan. In Britain, as in Australia, coaches have become wary of the dangerous tactics that seem to be promoted by Maguire.
In the words of The Guardian, in April 2011: ''To rival Super League coaches, players and administrators, Maguire remains a divisive figure because of the tactics and, specifically tackling techniques, that underpinned Wigan's rapid rise last season.'' (Is this sounding familiar?)
In the Herald this year, we noted of Maguire's time in Britain, ''Perhaps one source of motivation was a series of photos along a corridor at Wigan's training base. One photo of an opposition player lying on the ground after a heavy tackle by four Wigan players was captioned: 'Roadkill achieved'.''
I have it from one strong source that, shortly after Maguire arrived at Souths, the battle cry ''roadkill'' started to be heard from Souths sides. It is a serious matter. In the NFL recently, the defensive co-ordinator of the New Orleans Saints had to resign after it emerged he had been offering cash rewards for tackles that took key opponents out of the game – and rightly so.
I don't say Maguire has done that with Souths. But I do say a pattern of brutality is beginning to emerge under his tenure that is outrageous, and needs to called out as such.
Twitter - @Peter_Fitz
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/it-seems-a-pattern-of-brutality-is-emerging-here-mr-maguire-20130821-2sbts.html#ixzz2cg0Xo7zU
