Raiders coach Ricky Stuart will reportedly be suspended for one game and fined $20,000 for his “weak dog” spray directed at Panthers player Jaeman Salmon.
Stuart made the surprising comments after the Raiders’ loss to the Panthers on Saturday. It was triggered by Salmon kicking Raiders hooker Tom Starling during the play.
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“I’ve had history with this kid (Salmon). I know this kid very well,” he said.
“He was a gutted weak dog as a kid and now he hasn’t changed. Now he’s a gutted weak dog.”
News Corp Reporter Phil Rothfield reported to NRL 360 that Stuart is likely to be removed from coaching the Raiders’ clash with the Dragons on Sunday.
“I spoke to them (the NRL) about 15 minutes ago and Ricky Stuart will not be coaching the Canberra Raiders this weekend,” Rothfield said.
“In the next 24 hours they will announce, the NRL, a one-week suspension and a $20,000 fine.”
NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent revealed Stuart had spoken to Jason King in the Integrity Unit and revealed the “personal” story behind the attack on Salmon.
“I’ve called the NRL today, they’re aware of that and they’re going to put together their investigation and such is the personal nature of this investigation, there’s going to be things that won’t go into the written report,” he said.
“King will talk to (Andrew) Abdo, he will reveal some of what has happened, but out of respect for the personal nature of what this is really about, it will be kept out of the written submission.
“I don’t know if that hurts Ricky in his overall fight to not get suspended. When I asked him about it, he was prepared to live with the consequences of that.”
Rothfield confirmed the NRL is “aware” of “all the personal details” and while Stuart has not disclosed anything publicly, he “told the Integrity Unit every detail”.
Rothfield added: “This is something that’s been going on for over a decade and he hasn’t been able to get closure. It’s his own children… I’m not defending him but I’m trying to give context to what triggered what happened.”
Kent, who had also heard about Stuart’s one-game suspension, criticized the NRL for entertaining a suspension when the investigation had not yet been completed.
“The investigation isn’t over yet and you’re saying, and I’ve heard the same thing, a game for Ricky,” he said.
“I don’t have a problem with him being fined, but suspending him for that… (News Corp reporter) Dave Riccio was on the radio saying how the NRL has gone and basically for a while now he’s been saying that coaches aren’t. If we don’t pay enough attention to fines, maybe we should start suspending them.
“That’s in one area, then in the second area we have all these people saying this is way beyond what anyone else has done, so he should be suspended. The two things don’t really correlate, but the people marry it to give it a game.
“It feels like kangaroo court that the disciplinary hearing isn’t even over and we’ve all heard that he’s going to have a game, it’s not over yet.”
Despite this, News Corp journalist Michael Carayannis thinks the ban is “fair”.
“I would have preferred Ricky to confront Jaeman after the game in the sheds and spray him one on one … but you can’t do that in public. He essentially slandered him, he can’t go unpunished,” Caryannis said.
“I think the one game suspension is fair. You can’t be doing that.”
Kent reiterated that the issue for him is suspension, to which Caryannis asked “what’s the deterrent then?”
Meanwhile, Rothfield revealed Stuart will be the first manager to face a one-match ban.
“This has never happened before in the game,” he said.
Originally published as Ricky Stuart’s NRL punishment for ugly spray revealed as ‘kangaroo court’