Cartwright fined for ref approach
15.09.2009
By: Dan Koch
GOLD Coast coach John Cartwright will fork out $10,000 from his own pocket after acknowledging his wrongdoing in approaching a match official during Saturday night's semi-final loss to Brisbane at Skilled Park.
Titans boss Michael Searle said his coach and close friend had confessed to him shortly after the match that he had said something to central referees Ben Cummins and Ashley Klein after running into them in the tunnel at half-time.
It is Cartwright's second such offence after he was fined $5000 for approaching a video referee at Brookvale Oval in 2007 and given his expectation that his players pay their own fines, the former Test backrower volunteered to cough up the cash.
``We won't be fighting the breach notice,'' Searle told The Australian.
``Carty told me he ran into the referees and made a comment to them.
``He was open about it and said if a fine was issued that he would front it as he expects the players to do.''
Cartwright was furious with what he saw as a vastly different interpretation of the 10m rule and a relaxation of the policing of the ruck area, describing the performance of the two whistleblowers as disgraceful.
But while such opinions are allowed under the guidelines, NRL boss David Gallop said there was no such leeway given to direct confrontations between officials and coaches.
``Coaches have ample opportunity to give reasonable opinions on refereeing decisions to the media and, in the days following, to the referees' coaching staff, but it is unacceptable for them to approach the referee at the game,'' Gallop said.
``The rules governing this have been in place for a considerable time and all coaches are aware of them.''
Cummins and Klein were also given a pass on accusations they neglected to respond to the demands of Titans trainers to stop the play while they treated an injured player, with veteran playmaker Mat Rogers defending their decision to allow play to continue after he had been knocked unconscious in the dying minutes of the epic south-east Queensland derby.
The dual international was in the arms of trainers 30m away as giant Broncos prop David Taylor crossed for the match-sealing try four minutes from full-time.
The situation prompted Titans assistant Trevor Gillmeister to blast the match officials for not stopping the contest to allow Rogers to be taken from the field.
However, while still nursing a thumping headache and stiff neck from the awkward aerial collision, Rogers insisted he had no issue with the ruling.
``I didn't know how I even got into the back of the ambulance to tell you the truth so I had no idea about whether or not they had stopped the game,'' said Rogers, who spent the night in hospital under observation but was released early on Sunday morning.
``I have just seen the footage and, I mean, we had the ball and we were pushing downfield. It was only the fact there was an intercept (that concerns were raised).
``I mean the severity of the injury wasn't known to the referees and play was away from me so, you know, life goes on.
``They were leading the game anyhow, it wasn't like they snatched the win from us.''
With star fullback William Zillman set to return from suspension for Friday night's elimination final meeting with the Eels in Sydney, Rogers is likely to slot back into the centres, dismissing any suggestion the concussion he suffered had him in doubt for the match.
Similarly, Rogers rejected the notion the Titans needed to forget about their heartbreaking loss in front of a raucous home crowd at Robina, suggesting the positives of the performance far outweighed the negatives.
``They scored two intercepts in the second half and three tries from kicks -- two of which you really couldn't defend against.
``As a team we feel great about the game. A couple of loose passes and some dropped balls didn't help us, but we will go into this week with confidence we are playing some great football.''
