The Halftime Spray - Suspended Animation

During the week, South Sydney player Issac Luke received a suspension for a dangerous throw which has cost him a place in his side's first Grand Final appearance since 1971.

Some ex-players have argued that players should be allowed to escape suspension, or have it suspended until the following season, so as to allow them to partake in a Grand Final, because as they argue, opportunities to play in Grand Finals don't come around very often.

Sadly, they don't understand that such a decision would be seen as rewarding players who commit an offence, which defies the entire point and purpose of suspensions.

If Issac Luke hadn't committed an offence, he'd be playing in a Grand Final this week. It's not a fault of the system that he's not playing. It's a fault of Issac's and no-one elses.

To his credit, he has accepted his suspension with no complaint about the process, despite his obvious disappointment at not playing in this weekend's Grand Final.

For some time there have been debates about lighter suspensions for players committing illegal acts in, or leading up to, big matches such as Origin, Tests and Finals football. Opinions of this nature are the sort of archaic concepts that I thought had long left our game behind and a reason why the game is so much better now.

Given the increased focus and attention that the game gets during these marquee events (Origin, Tests & Finals) if anything, we should be handing down even heavier suspensions for any foul play that happens in these games. The opposite would be nothing more than promotion for foul play, and that is something that should be non-existent in our most watched events.

These backward ideas tend to come from the same commentators who oddly enough, spent their entire career playing in a game cleaner than in the time that they tend to refer to as ‘back in my day'.

As the game is now a big business whose image is more vital than ever before, it cannot remain attached to outmoded practices or beliefs. It must move forward and be truly professional. These people who regularly hark back to simpler times and how much greater the game was then, are exactly the sort of opinions the modern game should disassociate itself with.

I love the history of this game, being an historian it's practically a pre-requisite. But a major aspect to the games existence, expansion and popularity is it's ability to adapt and evolve to the climate surrounding it, to ensure it remains and hopefully becomes more socially acceptable.