South Sydney’s mascot has got some talking to do after vision emerged on social media of an altercation with a young Sharks fan.
Reggie the Rabbit, the club’s long-time mascot, shoves 11-year-old Cronulla supporter Benji Agius as he lined up with other fans after the game.
Souths are investigating the circumstances behind the incident and 81-year-old Charlie Gallico, who masquerades as Reggie, could face disciplinary action.
“We were made aware of the incident and both us and Souths are investigating,” said Sharks boss Dino Mezzatesta.
“The NRL has also been made aware of what happened.
“I saw something where the mother said the kid was in shock. It’s obviously an unfortunate incident.”
Benji’s mother, Tanya, told news.com.au that he and his mates were lining up outside the Shark Park players tunnel following the 27-12 win over the Bunnies.
“They could see Reggie Rabbit coming up. And they were all like ‘let’s see if we can get a high-five’.
“So Benji popped his hand out, as you can see in the video, and he went to get a high-five but was pushed away instead.
“He was then told off by a security guard for getting too close or for touching him.”
It is unclear whether the match review committee is looking into the incident. Due to his previously clean judiciary record, Reggie could escape a ban with an early guilty plea and just get a fine if he is slapped with a grade-one striking charge.
“Reggie is a good person and I know the club will deal with that. We all love Reggie,” Souths forward Davvy Moale said.
Stuart cries foul over costly obstruction call
Ricky Stuart says he still doesn’t understand the NRL’s interpretations of obstruction rulings, despite sitting on a committee designed to crack down on players milking penalties.
Stuart claimed the NRL had abandoned its no tolerance approach just three rounds into the season, after his Canberra side had a try chalked off in the 20th minute of Sunday’s 40-12 loss at Manly.
Seb Kris broke the Sea Eagles’ line and touched down for what appeared to have been the game’s first try.
But a bunker ruling called play back after minimal contact between Canberra prop Corey Horsburgh and Sea Eagles halfback Daly Cherry-Evans.
Manly captain Cherry-Evans initiated contact with Horsburgh and then raced after the play.
Raiders lock Morgan Smithies was hit by Haumole Olakau’atu after passing the ball that led to Kris’s try.
Canberra then conceded a penalty for the contact with Cherry-Evans, Horsburgh was sin-binned soon after for a professional foul, and while the prop was off Manly chalked up 22 unanswered points.
Stuart and other prominent coaches were part of a committee including NRL administrators who met to discuss rules over the summer.
But he said the interpretations agreed upon had “gone out the window”.
He said Sunday’s game proved his trip to Sydney for the rules summit was a “waste of two days”.
“After 20 minutes, we had no football, and we got a set around halfway, and we score a wonderful try,” Stuart said.
“It’s really difficult coaching when you don’t know rules, you don’t know interpretations, because I’ve got no idea.
“We wanted to make defenders defend this year.
“This year, that was what the rule was when Wayne (Bennett) and Ivan (Cleary) and I sat down with Ashley (Klein), Andrew (Abdo) and Graham (Annesley).
“But that’s gone out the window.”
Stuart seemed to infer that the hit on Smithies would be officiated differently if he was a playmaker.
“My ballplayer got hit after he passed,” Stuart said.
“If it was a couple of other players, I know exactly where the penalty would have gone. It was my bloke. But that whole game changed there.
“But something’s changed this week, and I’ve got an idea (why).”
Panthers cubs face rough reception
South Sydney have put Penrith’s young halves on notice, making no secret of the fact they want to get physical and pressure the inexperienced duo.
Already without Dylan Edwards (groin), the Panthers must decide whether to put Blaize Talagi or Brad Schneider next to Jack Cole in the halves against the Rabbitohs.
Thursday’s clash will mark only the sixth game Penrith have entered without at least one of Edwards, Nathan Cleary or Jarome Luai since the start of 2020.
Without the majority of their key creative players the Panthers have won just one of those previous five games, averaging just 10.4 points per match.
There were signs of some improvement on that last week in Melbourne, with Penrith still managing to put 24 points on after Cleary went off the field.
Regardless Souths did well to pressure St George Illawarra’s Lachlan Ilias and Kyle Flanagan a fortnight ago, with that the difference in their victory.
And lock Tallis Duncan said the Rabbitohs would be making a point to put the same physicality into Penrith’s duo, whoever the four-time defending premiers pick.
Jack Cole kicks. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
“We always want to put pressure on halves. We know how much of the game they control. We always want to do that,” Duncan said.
“When we execute our plans in defence we get at their three-in and halves and putting pressure on them.
“We spoke about looking at them as a team, more so than what individuals are in or out.
“But we definitely want to be physical and take the challenge to them.”
South Sydney had a light session on Monday, managing a five-day turnaround from Saturday’s loss to Cronulla into their home clash with the Panthers.
Alex Johnston did not train, and while Wayne Bennett suggested the winger could return this week there is every chance that could be through the NSW Cup.
Severely undermanned and able to go 2-0 with almost half their salary-cap missing, the Rabbitohs insist there were positives from outscoring the Sharks in the second half of Saturday’s 27-12 loss.
“We take confidence from that,” prop Davvy Moale said.
“We might have just withered away previously and given the game up. It could have been a ridiculous score, but we kept in the fight.”
with AAP
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