Off the Wall

Some cynics will suggest the clearance by the NRL judiciary of both the Blues Jamie Lyon and the Maroons Dallas Johnson last night was simply a case of keeping both states happy in the run up to State of Origin One.

I want to suggest that the outcome is a victory for the judiciary process - or for the way the judiciary process ought to work.

Because there was so much at stake, both players elected to take their case to the judiciary. That is a highly unusual course in the NRL today.

In the case of Jamie Lyon, the skill of his legal representative, Geoff Bellew, SC, resulted in the charge being dismissed on a legal technicality.

There is a message in that for all clubs - if you want to give a player before the judiciary the best chance of success get Geoff Bellew to represent him!

In the case of Dallas Johnson, some excellent forensic work by the Storm Assistant Coach, Dean Lance, had his charged downgraded.

I have argued for years that the judiciary system will work best of all when players don