Last Friday’s incident packed Grand Final replay between the Bulldogs and the Rabbitohs has seen the NRL come down hard on all offenders, both on and off the field.
The final minutes of the game saw the Rabbitohs trail by a point. Adam Reynolds was within field goal range and as he propped for the kick to tie the game, Bulldogs captain James Graham dived at him to attempt a charge down. Graham slid through and injured Reynolds’ leg.
Graham was penalised and Souths kicked the penalty goal to win the game. Graham and team mate David Klemmer were aggressively remonstrating with referee Gerard Sutton.
Graham has subsequently been suspended for 4 weeks for his contact with Reynolds and for his conduct. Klemmer received 3 weeks for his behaviour.
The end of the match also provided the ugly scene of incensed fans throwing objects at match officials as they hurriedly left the ground. Touch judge Darren Alchin was struck with a bottle, causing him to slip and fracture his shoulder.
The NRL since revealed that they will consider docking competition points from clubs whose fans misbehave in similarly extreme manner in the future. They are still working with police, venue officials and the Bulldogs club to identify and catch any people who threw objects at the officials.
After the match it was suggested that Reynolds’ suffered ligament damage to his knee that could have seen him miss as much as 5 months, but today he revealed that the diagnosis was not that severe.
Reynolds revealed today on Twitter that he “Saw the specialist today. Don’t need surgery yet and looking at 6-8 weeks. Could need surgery later though.”
While the news is good at present, if his injury doesn’t heal sufficiently in the coming weeks, surgery will be unavoidable, ending his season.