7th Seven – Walker highlights team list Integrity farce
With the NSW Police investigation the possibility of match-fixing in three games, there’s been worthy debate over the weekly charade over team line-ups.
The issue reached a new low last week, when Manlynamed centre Dylan Walker to take on Canberra.
Walker’s name appeared on the team sheet last Tuesday, despite the fact coach Trent Barrett had ruled him out for the season with a shoulder injury less than a fortnight earlier.
On the same day he was named, Walker’s arm was still in a sling.
Barrett was forced to keep playing the game when quizzed about Walker on match-eve, saying he was an outside chanceto be fit.
As expected, Walker didn’t take the field, with rookie Brad Parker taking his place instead.
So what was the reason for this apparently ludicrous scenario? We’ve been told Manly needed to name Walker – and then rule him out at the eleventh hour – to gain the necessary second tier salary cap exemption to include Parker.
In effect, the NRL rules forced the club to deceive fans and punters in order to field a compliant team.
In our humble opinion, there’s something very wrong with that. Given Walker was never a chance of playing, the exemption should have been granted the previous Tuesday.
That would have encouraged transparency – something the game badly needs with a dark clouds hanging over its integrity.
With the NSW Police investigation the possibility of match-fixing in three games, there’s been worthy debate over the weekly charade over team line-ups.
The issue reached a new low last week, when Manlynamed centre Dylan Walker to take on Canberra.
Walker’s name appeared on the team sheet last Tuesday, despite the fact coach Trent Barrett had ruled him out for the season with a shoulder injury less than a fortnight earlier.
On the same day he was named, Walker’s arm was still in a sling.
Barrett was forced to keep playing the game when quizzed about Walker on match-eve, saying he was an outside chanceto be fit.
As expected, Walker didn’t take the field, with rookie Brad Parker taking his place instead.
So what was the reason for this apparently ludicrous scenario? We’ve been told Manly needed to name Walker – and then rule him out at the eleventh hour – to gain the necessary second tier salary cap exemption to include Parker.
In effect, the NRL rules forced the club to deceive fans and punters in order to field a compliant team.
In our humble opinion, there’s something very wrong with that. Given Walker was never a chance of playing, the exemption should have been granted the previous Tuesday.
That would have encouraged transparency – something the game badly needs with a dark clouds hanging over its integrity.
