Cronulla winger Ronaldo Mulitalo has urged the NRL not to outlaw sledging after the Reece Walsh and Hudson Young incident seemingly showed the league is cracking down. Walsh and Young were both sin-binned in the first week of the finals after Walsh retaliated to some taunting from Young by head-butting him.
Referee Ashley Klein gave Young his marching orders and awarded the penalty to the Broncos because he deemed the Raiders forward started it. Mulitalo is one of the game’s best agitators and often gets into a war-of-words with opposition players.
Ronaldo Mulitalo (far left) doesn’t want the NRL to stamp out sledging after the Reece Walsh (R) incident. Image: Getty/AAP
He was seen giving it to Canberra fans in the dying stages of the Sharks’ win over the Raiders on Saturday night that sent them into a preliminary final against Melbourne. Speaking on Sunday, Mulitalo said he hopes the NRL backflips and allows some sledging between players moving forward.
“I need to be careful what I say, I’d be gone (banned) for a whole year if I got caught with what I say sometimes,” the winger revealed. “It’s high stakes. Nobody takes it personally. And if you can’t handle words when you go out there, that’s on you.
“It’s an advantage to whoever is able to get under your skin. You can say whatever you want to me. I’ve been called plenty of things, but am I going to sit around and say, ‘he hurt my feelings?’
“Play the game how it is. It’s tough. It’s a man’s game. If you’re getting hurt by words, obviously there’s a limit, you don’t bring in partners or kids – you never cross that line. With Hudson Young, he can say whatever he wants. I gave him a bit of lip, and I was giving it back. Not once did I say, ‘he hurt my feelings’.”
Reece Walsh retaliated with a head-butt after Hudson Young taunted him. Image: Channel 9
Young’s teammate Corey Horsburgh expressed similar sentiments before the Sharks game. “Hopefully that’s not a rule now,” said the Canberra forward. “(Young) is a competitor. I don’t think he did anything wrong in my opinion. But yeah, that’s footy. I think that’s a grey area. I think it was a one off, I reckon. I don’t think that would happen again.”
Cronulla coach impressed by Ronaldo Mulitalo’s discipline
Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon said he’s been impressed by Mulitalo’s discipline in recent weeks. “Ronnie engages in a battle with his opponent but his energy comes to our team, not towards the opponent,” he said.
“Ronnie really hasn’t been getting in anyone’s face for a number of weeks now. He’s obviously our energy spark and he has gone too far at times, but Ronnie knows that his energy is for us, not for the opponent.
“Hudson and Ronnie, they’re the sorts of people you want in your team because they’re combative. They’ll do anything for their teammates, coaches love having those players in their team.”
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Mulitalo had a running battle with Ryan Papenhuyzen the last time the Sharks played the Storm, resulting in an ugly incident on the full-time siren in which Papenhuyzen lashed out. The fullback is expected to return from concussion for the preliminary final on Friday night.
with AAP