Consistency

There's one thing that I want when it comes to sport - consistency. Whether that be from the players, the coach, the NRL, the referees, the judiciary, consistency is what keeps the masses happy. If my team is good one week and bad the next, it's not an enjoyable experience. I've harped on about referee's enough but my gripe isn't about them at the moment.

To much dismay, Johnathan Thurston has been given a 2 match ban by the judiciary for a Grade 2 Contrary Conduct charge for colliding with a referee on Saturday. I have a few gripes with this:

• Nothing was placed on report and no cautions were given during the game
• This is the second time the same referee has walked into a players line
• This doesn't match previous charges for the same situation

This referee has been caught in similar spots before - a few rounds ago Sam Thaiday collided with the same referee after he inexplicably ran backwards towards a scrum as it was breaking. During the game on Saturday, the whole situation was brushed off by the ref with a laugh - if it was that serious, surely the incident would have been placed on report at the time. To top it off, McCrone from Canberra got charged with a Grade 1 Contrary Conduct charge for pushing the referee in round 6. The difference between the two charges is that McCrone stuck his hands out to push the referee while replays show that Thurston was watching the ball and the ref backed into his way.

I really don't like swearing in blogs but quite frankly if this charge is upheld, it's utter bullshit. There is a history of shocking calls in the judiciary around Origin time, as recently as Uate before Game 2. The only solution I can see is that JT and the Cowboys fight the charge and get this ridiculous situation out of the way.