Penrith Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has voiced strong opposition to recent changes in the NRL judiciary process.
The Rugby League Players Association (RLPA) last week expressed "serious concerns" over an amendment to the Judiciary Code, which now allows the ARLC to charge NRL players regardless of the MRC’s original judgement.
With these changes, Ivan Cleary calls the Australian Rugby League Commission’s (ARLC) decision to overrule the Match Review Committee (MRC) a sign of "disturbing" mistrust.
RLPA chief executive Clint Newton warned that this discretionary power “undermines the players' trust in the existing system,” and now has public backing from one of the game’s most successful coaches in Cleary.
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“I would suggest the danger there is that the Commission is not showing a lot of confidence in the MRC,” Cleary said on Tuesday.
“I think that's probably the main issue – do we have confidence in the MRC? And if we don't, then we probably should fix that up, rather than trying to maybe come up with a, 'We'll step in if we don't think it's right'," he continued.
The comments come ahead of Penrith’s highly anticipated Thursday night clash against NRL ladder-leaders Canterbury, and just days after the Panthers were rocked by a two-game suspension handed to back-rower Scott Sorensen for a hip-drop tackle.
Sorensen was placed on report during the Panthers’ win over the Warriors for a 36th-minute tackle on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who suffered an ankle injury and had to be assisted from the field.
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No penalty was awarded during the match and there was no initial reaction from the Warriors players.
Still, Sorensen was charged and suspended, with Penrith opting not to contest the ban.
Cleary, clearly frustrated by the ruling, questioned the clarity of the hip-drop tackle definition.
“The actual hip-drop rule, I don't even know who wrote it and when it was written; it's very vague and it's nothing like why it was brought in," Cleary said.
Backing his player, Cleary made it clear he felt Sorensen had been unfairly treated.
“I think he was very hard done by,” he said.
When asked if the club’s decision not to challenge the charge stemmed from a belief that the process is nearly impossible to win, Cleary didn’t shy away: “That’d be one way to put it, yeah.”