FRUSTRATED referees boss Robert Finch says he will have no sympathy for Storm captain Cameron Smith if he is rubbed out of the finals series - because it will help wipe the cancer of the grapple tackle from the game.
As the Herald obtained video stills of other players performing dangerous choke-like holds without sanction this season - including two committed by Brisbane players during last Saturday night's semi-final loss to the Storm - Finch admitted the code had failed to eradicate the controversial tackling technique despite a vow from coaches, players and officials during the off-season to abolish it.
While stressing he did not want to comment directly about Smith's case ahead of tonight's judiciary hearing at NRL headquarters, he insisted players had been warned continually about the practice.
"I have no sympathy for anyone for the issue that's arising now," Finch said. "We've said collectively, let's eradicate it. Quite clearly it hasn't been eradicated. If it takes this to stop it, so be it. This hasn't come up overnight. It's been an issue in the game all year."
At a think-tank involving the game's stakeholders last October, and then at the annual coaches conference in January, the message was clear: the game's officials would stamp out the grapple through penalties, sin-binning and suspensions.
Three players were charged in the opening round of the season - Smith, Parramatta five-eighth Feleti Mateo and Tigers prop Todd Payten - with Storm veteran Matt Geyer and Sharks captain Paul Gallen charged with contrary conduct offences in round three.
After that, just three other players had been charged until Smith and Storm teammate Jeremy Smith raised the ire of the match-review committee with their tackle on Broncos forward Sam Thaiday on Saturday night.
Payten is the only player who has contested the charge this season, and was found not guilty.
"They said they were going to stamp it out and then they didn't," South Sydney chief executive Shane Richardson said. "The problem is that the grapple is very hard to prove. It's too difficult to define what one is. They need to define specifically what a choker is, what a chicken wing is …"
While the Storm are not allowed to show examples of tackles that have escaped censure as part of Smith's defence tonight, the Herald has obtained footage of some tackles that have recently come under heavy scrutiny - including two from Broncos players in the 16-14 loss to Melbourne on Saturday night.
In one tackle, Brisbane captain Darren Lockyer appears to have a hold on Cameron Smith's neck. In another, halfback Peter Wallace has exactly the same hold around the chin of Israel Folau as Smith did on Thaiday.
The match review committee is understood to have looked at those tackles but opted against laying charges.
Finch said revealed he has ordered referees Tony Archer and Shayne Hayne to come down hard on any prolonged contact with the head or neck in this weekend's preliminary finals.
"I've told them, if they see it, to haul the player out and tell them we're not putting up with this for much longer," he said. "It it happens again, sin bin them."
He said the responsibility to wipe out the grapple also rested with coaches. "The referees cannot do it ourselves," he said. "We were given a directive by the coaches to come down heavily on player-safety issues. We have pretty well doubled the amount of penalties on grapples.
"We have doubled our penalties on kickers taken out without the football. We're doing as much as we can." JUDICIARY RULINGS ON GRAPPLE CHARGES NOT GUILTY AT PANEL
Beau Scott (Cro) Grade-2 head contact - R22, 2005
Ian Donnelly (GC) Grade-1 head contact - R19, 2007
Liam Fulton (WT) Grade-1 head contact - R23, 2007
Dean Widders (SS) Grade-2 head pressure - R23, 2007
Todd Payten (WT) Grade-2 head pressure - R1, 2008
GUILTY AT PANEL Ryan Hoffman (Mel) Grade-3 head contact - R16, 2005. Two weeks
Jason Ryles (StGI) Grade-1 head contact - R23, 2007. Two weeks
GRAPPLE TACKLE SUMMARY (2005-2008) 29 grapple tackle charges, 19 early guilty pleas, 6 found not guilty at panel, 2 found guilty at panel, 2 charges pending, 11 weeks of total suspensions
(Source: David Middleton, League Information Services) Nathan Hindmarsh (Par) Grade-1 head contact - R16, 2005