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Rugby league great Paul Gallen and WWOS radio host Mark Levy have clashed over Teig Wilton’s controversial tackle on Eels halfback Mitchell Moses.
Wilton, who will miss Cronulla’s third-round fixture after accepting a one-game ban, found himself in hot water when he took out the legs of Moses just as the NSW Blues representative was putting up a kick.
It was a tackle that Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon even conceded was a bad one by declaring Wilton “got his timing wrong”.
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Discussing the moment on 2GB’s Wide World of Sports radio, Gallen clashed with his co-host as the pair failed to see eye-to-eye on the punishment handed down.
Gallen, a former Cronulla and NSW Blues captain, said the tackle was worthy of a penalty, but nothing more with Levy rejecting that opinion.
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The pair then went back and forth over Wilton’s tackle on Moses.
READ BELOW THE TRANSCRIPT BETWEEN GALLEN AND LEVY:
Levy: You thought there was nothing wrong over the tackle?
Gallen: No, that’s not at all what I said. The Big Marn (Darryl Brohman) was saying he should get sent to the sin bin [in commentary].
I said, ‘Big Marn, are you kidding? How do you get sent to the sin bin for that?’
He made contact. It’s a penalty, yes. Mitchell Moses jumps in the air and contributes to it. At no point in time was he ever in a dangerous position.
I was actually surprised he got charged at all.
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Levy: You can’t be serious?
Gallen: Mate, at what stage did he end up in a dangerous position?
This is the thing, and I made the point on Saturday [in commentary], we’re going over the top to try and protect these so-called ball players. It wasn’t late. He didn’t dive at his legs … at no point was he in a dangerous position.
Jaydn Su’a from the Dragons the other day was totally committed to the tackle before the halfback let go of the ball, and then he hit the halfback … he then goes to the sin bin.
It wasn’t a sin-binning offence at all.
Look, it was a penalty for Teig Wilton. Fair enough a low-grade charge, but to miss a week for that, I find that very harsh
Levy: You’ve officially lost it, it’s only round three.
Gallen: Mate I’m telling you, it’s rugby league, it’s a contact sport. Things happen.
You cannot say we can’t touch these ball players. You can’t do that, that’s what we’re trying to do.
Levy: But [NRL head of football] Graham Annesley said yesterday in his weekly press conference Gal, he said, ‘you need to know, if you get the timing wrong you will be penalised’.
Gallen: His timing wasn’t wrong, his timing was spot on.
Levy: He got him in the middle of the air! It was that late.
Gallen: It was not late at all.
Moses jumped in the air and contributed to it. I’m not trying to blame Mitchell Moses here, he did well to get the penalty … It was not dangerous.
At no point in time was he in a dangerous position. Had he grabbed his legs and flipped him, fair enough. See you later, suspended. But he grabbed the legs and eased him to the ground.
At no point was he in danger.
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